Application Service Provider

[Proximitum]

Hello. Been a member of this forum for a few years now under the username Jimmy but never really utilised the board as much as I could have. Anyway new username, new company new focus.

Hope to be more interactive on the forums from now on.

Proximitum is basically a managed Desktop, Email and application provider. We provide a remote hosted platform, allowing companies to connect to their desktop environment from anywhere that has an internet connection. This bascially removes the need and cost for companies to host their own servers, whether for email, office or their other critical applications etc. This also negates the need for companies to have VPNS, firewalls etc

Anyway.... hope to be of some more use on the forums soon.

james.wharton@proximitum.com

[Richard Conyard]

No website James?

Do you guys used RDP or ICA for connectivity? Or do you go down the whole unix tantrella route?

[Proximitum]

Hi no website as yet, although one is in production. If anyone is interested in more info then drop me a mail and i'll send you email you some of our service documents.

We use Terminal Services for remote desktop connection, although http can be used for mail access also.

James

james.wharton@proximitum.com

[webit]

I'ts always useful. I connect directly to our hosting boxes in Docklands using my PDA with either GPRS or Bluetooth and MSTS. (Another guy I know uses VNC on his PDA to do the same job)

Always good for the emergencys knwoning you can do that.

[Richard Conyard]

VNC is neat, but rather bandwidth intensive and insecure.

Ages ago and in another life (sometimes seems like it), I sorted out all the infrastructure at our ISP to start offering ASP services. The trials were fantastic, plus looked to be more than lucrative. Our initial tests were with about 15 users onto one 2K box using office, outlook, one person was even coding in vb on there with no speed problems (although when he compiled other people did notice). Also bandwidth wise people on dial up were still getting speeds like they were sitting at the computer.

Pity Microsoft asked for some stupidly high fee before they'd even talk about pricing on the ASP model which caused the venture to be scrapped.

[Proximitum]

we host on 32 and 64-bit platforms now, with just over 200 users accross multiple domains. So far no issues. As far as licensing goes the Microsoft SPLA has come down somewhat in the last few years and can allow for reasonable profit margins if you have enough users.

[Richard Conyard]

From the hints we were getting the price was good (£17/pm office + outlook), but it was just getting onto the plan.

[Proximitum]

its a little more than that but not much. Once you throw in additional licensing for Anti-Virus etc then your looking at a cost of around £30-£35 per user month. We can provide hosted exchange for a company at a fee from as little as £6 per month per user to the customer so once you have the licensing agreements in place the selling becomes much easier.

[Richard Conyard]

Good luck with your bits and pieces. There are plenty of people here who give good advice on marketing, which I think you'll need lots of. Although it wouldn't work for our company I do like the idea of ASP and believe that more companies should take it up.

Have you thought about looking towards x-box and console RDP clients? Being able to deliver office functionality on the TV would rock.

[Richard Conyard]

Sorry, whilst I'm reminising... have you guys looked at Star Office, I think it's titled open office now?

A low end pack based on:
Open Office
Firefox
Thunderbird

Could bring down your costs considerably and open up the low end market.

[Proximitum]

Thanks I will be seeking marketing advice on the forums. Using an ASP is a new concept for a lot of companies but its one i'm sure will take off if delivered correctly.Which I aim to do :) .

[Proximitum]

Staroffice is something we've discussed. Its a possibility maybe down the line when we look at new platforms etc etc

[Richard Conyard]

I think one of your biggest barriers will be to get companies comfortable with giving up their data.

[Proximitum]

actually i have found that most companies can't wait to give it up! and that also most companies look blankly when you start talking about ACLs, Chinese walls, realtime file monitoring etc.

Your right it becomes an issue when looking at companies who have to meet data protection act issues, but its really not anymore of an issue as if you were hosting yourself. Acls, perimeter security, all that sort of stuff you would need to do anyway.

Once your site/domain is up, you run it. we only maintain the system etc, provide reporting on mailbox useage, maybe file access reports etc... and obviously the platform support itself

[top-click]

Hi James - all that techy stuff is a bit baffling to me!

Welcome back anyway

Rob

[Ozzy]

Hello James and welcome back to the forums.
I use terminal services to look after our office Windows server, using rdesktop on Linux (as I use MDK Linux as my desktop OS) and find it nice, stable and fast.

Good luck with the new venture!

[chris1317]

The last place I worked at used to use VNC but first you required authentication with a securid fob to get access to the NFUSE portal which it was published on. They also had all sorts of apps on the portal word, excell ect.

Chris.