It wasn't so long ago that small and medium businesses had only one choice when deploying network infrastructures. Businesses implemented their own infrastructures through various vendors and systems integrators. Businesses had to run their environments entirely in-house, creating their own data center and network infrastructures. Second, many pieces of the network would have to be custom developed, which was time consuming and expensive. In addition, far too often the IT deliverable did not meet the specific requirements of the business.
Today there are more cost effective choices.
There are two types of service providers that are a result of the Internet explosion. These applications not only can be deployed quickly, but they can be quite cost effective. Since the ASP is providing applications across many customers, the cost to the individual business is driven down. Cash flow is another important consideration. In the old model, businesses would have to spend cash for hardware and software every three years or less to keep up with technology.