The ASP model launched in September 2002 by BHV, a
Uruguayan company, is already being used by eight of its clients.
The proposed offering involves purchasing a license of the
management system. Then BHV creates a Virtual Private Network through its
Datacenter services in order to access the system, which runs on BHV's servers,
through a direct line. In addition, SSL-authenticated users are able to access
their company data from any location in the world.
"This has brought about important cost-savings for
clients: the first project that we implemented using this scheme meant US$
30,000 worth of savings for the client," said Aldo Villagra, from
BHV.
The company has application servers replicated with the
Windows 2000 Server; a database server replicated with DB2 Common Server in
Linux, and uses direct line connections. "We have come to an agreement with
Antel Data, where each client who hires a line for our VPN and uses the system
in ASP modality, will get a discount from Antel Data in the line price. This
way, the connection is made through direct lines and not through the Internet,"
explained Villagra.
Villagra pointed out that the main challenge in
implementing this marketing modality is overcoming the psychological barrier and
false sense of security and control of people who have all their data under the
company's roof. He added that servers located near people's desks also generate
a misleading sense of security, and he made reference to a study carried out by
Sniadover & Asociados ?a company focused on IT security
(www.sniadover.s5.com)-, according to which 70% of the data security problems
arise within the company itself, whereas the remaining 30% is caused by external
factors.