A.2 Offerings

The company offers a spectrum of services that ranges from supplying the bare iron through applications, helpdesk, and backup/restore services. The company provides data system outsourcing services in the following areas:

1. Internet Data Center and server-hosting services

2. A full suite of automated integrated managed services that assure optimal performance, security, reliability, and scalability of a customer's computer systems operations

3. Information technology (IT) hosting services

4. Systems infrastructure and operations consulting

These offerings correspond to how much the customers might want to do themselves, which ranges from doing everything themselves to having everything, including user management, done by ISPCompany. Examples of offerings are shown in Table A-1.

Table A-1. Spectrum of ISPCompany offerings

What ISPCompany offers	What the customer can do
Base system	Everything
Base system plus the operating system	Health monitoring, all applications, all user management
Base system, OS, middleware	Install packages
Base system, OS, middleware, applications	User management
Base system, OS, middleware, applications, helpdesk	End-user tasks only
Base system, OS, middleware, applications, helpdesk, backup/restore	End-user tasks only

ISPCompany offers Linux distributions from the following companies:

• Red Hat

• SuSE

ISPCompany offers the following middleware:

• Apache

• IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS)

• SendMail and Bynari Insight Server

• DB2 UDB

A.2.1 The Internet service offering

The ISP offering is a stable part of ISPCompany's revenue model. It is low-risk with reasonable returns, but offers only moderate growth opportunity. ISPCompany has a few thousand mail customers, some of whom also have some static Web pages to be served. The company has both low-speed and high-speed lines that its clients can use. Its rates are very competitive and it emphasizes the use of the static Web pages to present a company image along with an associated mail account that Web users can contact for additional information. The mail service side of the ISP business allows many of the clients to avoid owning and managing a mail server at their business site.

A.2.2 The data systems outsourcing offering

The outsourcing of data systems services, whereby a client company obtains all or part of its information processing requirements (including systems design, software management and hardware, network communications, training, maintenance, and support) from providers such as ISPCompany, continues to be a growing trend. ISPCompany believes that it is generally 10% to 50% more cost-effective and efficient for its clients to outsource information processing services to the company than it would be to provide equivalent services for themselves by purchasing or leasing in-house systems and hiring or contracting for service and support personnel.

Outsourcing provides clients with the following benefits:

• The refocus of personnel, financial, and technological resources on core business and client-related activities

• Access to highly skilled personnel and newer technology resources

• Access to resources that support technological re-engineering

• Reduction of operating costs

• Reduction of future investment in infrastructure not directly related to the core business activity