Application Service Provider (ASP)
A company that hosts an application and data for one or more customers, providing the hardware, software, infrastructure, and basic maintenance. The provider supports remote access to the application by the customer, usually over the Internet. The provider usually has expertise in the specific application hosted and may provide enhancements to it. Advantages to the customer, versus running the application in-house, include guaranteed performance, a robust data center, in-depth support from a skilled staff, and better economics. Also know as Software as a service (SaaS)
