August ASPnews Top 50

Last week’s Chapter 11 filing by Interliant opened up a vacancy in our Top
30 Enablers list that was quickly filled by one of a number of worthy contenders.

This is the second time Interliant has dropped out of these listings.
The first time was over a year ago, when the company’s decision to sell off
its enterprise ASP division left it too dependent on Web hosting revenues to
remain in the Providers Top 20. The expansion of the Enablers list from 20
to 30 members earlier this year brought Interliant back into that Enablers
Top 30, based on its private-label hosting activities.

This time, unfortunately, we think it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing the Interliant name in
these lists again. That’s a disappointment, since Interliant is truly a
pioneer of the ASP model, having started out hosting a Notes community as
early as 1993, and with more than five years’ experience of providing
pay-as-you-go Notes services.

Welcome Macromedia
Macromedia is the new entrant to the Enablers list. The company is best
known for its client-side Flash technology, which has long been a favorite
among Web site designers for adding “rich media” features to Web sites, but
its inclusion on our Enablers list is in recognition of its MX family of
products, launched in April this year, which puts powerful Web services
capabilities in the hands of developers.

The MX architecture includes a new
version of the popular Cold Fusion server platform, which Macromedia
acquired last year when it bought the developer Allaire, while Flash MX acts
as a versatile client-side component that provides a convenient user
interface to network-based applications and data.

Coupled with MX versions of its Dreamweaver Web site development tool and
associated products, Macromedia’s new family of products empowers developers
to migrate their skills to take advantage of the new generation of XML Web
services architectures. Cold Fusion has already served as the basis for a
significant number of online applications, particularly for smaller
developers, and its popularity looks set to increase with the addition of
the MX features. Macromedia’s inclusion in the Top 30 Enablers is richly
deserved for the innovative support it has given online developers with the
launch of the MX range.

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Top 20 Providers

This is the list of companies that, in the view of ASPnews, are the world’s 20 leading service providers. For inclusion, companies must meet the following criteria:

• Have the provision of network-based applications and/or services as their core business
• Have a substantial and active end-user customer base for those services
• Be able to demonstrate proven revenue streams
• Be innovators in the online delivery of software-based services
• Be recognizd as a leader by others within the industry

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Top 30 Enablers

These are the 30 companies that, in the view of ASPnews, are the most influential software or infrastructure providersfor the ASP and Web services industry. For inclusion, companies must meet the following criteria:

• Have a substantial and active customer base of providers
• Be active in their support and promotion of network-based applications and services
• Invest in innovation in the online delivery of software-based services
• Be recognized as a leader by others within the industry

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What do you think of our choices? What ASPs and infrastructure providers are missing that deserve to be here? And what companies do you think made that list that shouldn’t have? Critique our selections — or make your own list — in the ASP Discussion Forum.