Returning to profitability was only the first chapter in Novell's recovery plan. ASPs are resellers or software providers that host applications on the Web.
ASPs essentially rent the applications to businesses for a monthly fee.
The businesses, in turn, access the outsourced applications over the Internet. While Novell has yet to fully disclose its ASP strategy, the company is laying the groundwork for its resellers to cash in on the emerging ASP trend. Novell will build on Scads at its Brainshare developer conference later this month, when it discusses several new apps for the directory service. What's more, Novell will demonstrate its Digital Persona technology, aimed at providing users with a central, single identification over the Internet. And to top off its plan, Novell is prepping some of its Platinum partners to act as its certified ASP partners, targeting small and midsize customers.