Information Week, February 07, 2000, by Jennifer Mateyaschuk and Aisha M. Williams

Chances are that IT managers will frown on dealing with multiple application service providers to get the variety of hosted software needed to run their businesses. A company launching this week claims it has a way to alleviate headaches involved with managing too many ASPs.

Jam Cracker is establishing partnerships with single-application Web ASPs to provide customers with the best of both worlds: a broad choice of applications and a single point of contact. The company, started by Exodus founder K.B. Chandrasehkhar, uses the Extensible Markup Language to link to apps on ASP servers. Customers then use browsers to access all applications via Jam Cracker's Internet site. Jam Cracker will monitor usage, provide a single bill, integrate applications from different ASPs, provide customer support, and monitor service-level agreements between ASPs and their customers. Analysts expect others to follow this approach.

One benefit for customers is that they'll have application options in various categories, such as human resources, customer-relationship management, and enterprise resource planning. Most ASPs provide only a single application in each category.

Another benefit is that IT managers will be able to access tools that let them add new users and monitor network performance, which analysts say are becoming important features of the ASP model. An Oracle data warehouse will collect application statistics and information so Jam Cracker and customer IT staff can run queries on performance. "In this respect, they're one step ahead of ASPs like Corio and USinternetworking, who take on the role of the IT department and don't let customers have an active role in the applications," says Eric Klein, a senior analyst with the Yankee Group.

Three beta customers have signed up for the service. Aventail Inc., an E-commerce provider in Seattle, uses a remote access application from ASP iPass Inc. "Jam Cracker has been very good about handling any problems we've had with iPass. We're hoping to enlist them for E-mail soon," says IT manager Deb Joyce, adding that Aventail sometimes couldn't access Jam Cracker's system.

There are potential drawbacks. Jam Cracker is juggling multiple relationships, so there could be finger-pointing when a technical problem arises. And prices haven't been released, so it's unclear whether customers will pay more for the single contact. Jam Cracker offers 30-day trials with apps from four ASPs: Employease for human resources; USA.Net for E-mail; Managemark for financials; and iPass for remote access. Jam Cracker plans to Offer multiple CRM, ERP, personal-productivity, collaboration, and IT-management applications next quarter, when its service becomes generally available.

Also last week, Concentric Network Corp. unveiled its Metra portal service for small businesses, which provides access to45 online business services and a single bill.

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