July 16th 1999: Telecomputing launched its desktop-to-data-centre ASP service in the USA this week and revealed its first deal with a US-based independent software vendor (ISV) to host its apps.

The pioneering ASP, founded in 1997 in Billingstad, near Oslo, Norway, is preparing to announce a series of channel partnerships with US resellers in advance of bringing its service on stream in September.

"The interest coming from customers has been very positive. They are ready. This is going to be very big," Telecomputing's president and founder Jostein Eikeland told ASP News Review in a briefing last week. "We expect to have several thousand users by the end of the year," he added.

Unlike other ASPs, Telecomputing majors on offering a complete suite of desktop apps such as Microsoft Office, email and web access, as well as mid-tier enterprise and specialist vertical apps, all delivered across the wide area network using Windows terminal technology. Its approach is to act as a complete, full-service provider to an organisation, taking responsibility for every application including the desktop environment.

Tackling the desktop addresses the part of IT that causes the most problems for users, believes Eikeland: "The cost of running that environment is so huge. That typical desktop environment is killing the customers. If the desktop doesn't work, how is ERP going to work on your desktop?"

Telecomputing backs its service with a 99.7% service level guarantee - no more than half an hour's downtime a week. The basic desktop productivity and Internet package typically starts at a fixed price of $349 per seat per month which includes telecommunications services. Contracts last from three to five years.

Telecomputing will house its US data centre within top-tier Internet service provider Uunet's facility in Fairfax, VA, and is slated to be operational by September. "It is a place where we can grow very big," said Eikeland.

The Norwegian-led ASP has relocated its worldwide corporate headquarters to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, within walking distance of the headquarters of Windows terminal technology partner Citrix Systems. A server farm that is already operational here will act as a testing environment for new apps and pilot customers.

Telecomputing announced its first US independent software vendor partner today, Miami FL-based TherAssist Software. A leading supplier of Internet-based healthcare front-office systems, it has signed an exclusive ASP deal with Telecomputing to deliver its suite of clinical automation apps as a managed service.

The first customer will be an as yet unnamed major US health care provider that will access the applications from five sites beginning in August, expanding to twenty-five a month later. Several other large customers of TherAssist are discussing similar projects, the companies said.

TherAssist already deploys its apps using the ASP model, with a fifth of its revenues coming from this source. "We are expanding our capabilities by partnering with Telecomputing - we can move into an enterprise offering quicker than if TherAssist were to try to build that on our own," company president Todd Andros explained in an interview with ASP News Review yesterday.

"I expect it to be a majority of our business within six months," he added, indicating that he believes a substantial number of TherAssist's larger customers will adopt the delivery model. "We think it provides a better value for the customer."

Telecomputing relies on its internally-developed TECOS systems technology to deploy and manage hosted apps. Running on top of NT Server and alongside Citrix MetaFrame, TECOS provides pre-emptive application management, security and subscriber management functions. A deal announced in May adds embedded Castanet Internet application management technology from Marimba. A 900-step Code of Practice (COP) set of procedures supplements the TECOS technology framework with independently audited operating procedures.

To coincide with its US launch, Telecomputing confirmed the appointment of a new CEO, Compaq veteran Jan-Eigil Rydningen, who spent nine years as managing director and then chairman of Compaq Computer Norway. Rydningen is to move his home to Telecomputing's Florida base next month. The company also announced the appointment of Credit Suisse First Boston to serve as its financial advisor in the US, with the intention of listing on a US stock market within the next twelve months.

Telecomputing brings a reputation established through operating as an ASP in Scandinavia since 1997. It has an extensive customer base compared to other pureplay ASPs, claiming more than 50 business customers in Europe who collectively use more than 70 different applications at 180 locations.