ASP99: Web applications for dummies

Jane Wakefield ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 30 Sep 1999 15:45 BST

Doctors communicating with each other and accessing a database of information from experts and drug companies is just one of the applications ASPs will be able to provide to users, according to Lucent vice president of marketing Mark de Simone.

Speaking at ASP99 Thursday in London, de Simone outlined some of the practical advantages ASPs will bring to users. "They will create services targeted at specific communities," he said.

De Simone described a revolution of convergence, with telcos, the Internet and media conglomerates merging to bring services and content to a range of devices. "Just as there has been a decoupling of hardware and software, so it will happen in the communications world," he said. According to de Simone it will be up to ASPs to bring the diverse communications industries together "to serve particular segments of society".

Acknowledging that the burgeoning ASP market would need to target small- to medium-sized businesses in the first instance, de Simone was keen to point out the benefits to consumers in the future.

"Linking soccer matches to Internet soccer games, while chatting to a friend in Japan, fridges downloading recipes -- these are not science fiction," he said.

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