General info about ASP solutions  

ASP Solutions

As IT solutions  are becoming increasingly complex, CO-Handelszentrum GmbH has developed a range of flexible ASP Solutions to enable companies whether large or small to implement quick, flexible, scaleable, secure and cost effective solutions that enable one or multiple software applications to be made available to staff, partners, or customers anytime anywhere via a simple internet connection without the need to acquire, configure, install, host and maintain in-house software, hardware or supporting architecture. These solutions are designed to reduce the initial and ongoing costs and complexity of establishing and maintaining much of the computing and application architecture associated with the provisioning of one or more applications.

ASP Solutions are ideally suited to:

• Software Developers and Vendors that wishing to make their applications available to customers via a subscription based model and provide remote access and availability anytime and anywhere via the internet as opposed to a restricted local environment.
• Small to Medium Sized Business whom wishes to save the time, capital and on-going costs and complexity associated with developing, securing and maintaining an in-house IT applications and infrastructure.
• Small to Medium Sized and Divisions of Large Businesses which have a need to provision one or more software applications and permit effective collaboration and information sharing amongst their remote workforce either nationally or internationally.

Our ASP Solutions are made available from a state of the art and highly secure data centre in an ex- Nuclear Bunker deep within the Gotthard Mountain in Switzerland. This same facility is used as a repository for high security physical and electronic data by the Swiss Government and major Banks and Insurance Companies.  

Easy to use 

Applications hosted by ASP enable users to access all hosted applications such as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint , Outlook , Front Page)  , Internet Explorer , Accounting/ERP or CRM applications quickly and simply via a web browser.  There is no need to buy, configure and load software locally or worry about firewalls, virus scanners, Spyware/Adware scanning software, security patches, updates or software upgrades or date back-ups as these are all handled automatically.

Accessibility

All applications can be accessed 24 x 7 anytime, anywhere whether this is from home, office, whilst travelling or at client sites. All that is needed is access to the internet via a private or public web browser.  Additional client authorised users can be granted access rights to folders and applications at set up allowing high levels of collaboration and information sharing among user groups via public folders.

Availability

99.7% Availability. 24 x 7 Performance Monitoring. 24 x 7 customer & technical support.

Safe and Secure

• Outstanding physical security- Swiss Military Bunker located deep in Gotthard. Mountain in Switzerland. 24 x 7 Physical security restricted access area. Used by Government and Major Banks.
• 2 Tier firewall
• Intrusion detection
• 3 Isolated Fibre Optic internet access points and ISP Accounts
• Standby independent power generators
• Daily tape backup
• Weekly tape back up
• VPN Encryption and authentication (optional)
• Secure log in and configurable application access and security per user account

Speed to market

No need to acquire, configure and install software applications and upgrades or hardware. An ASP account can be set up quickly with virtually no capital costs in 48 hours.  

Scalability

Additional users can be added instantly and can access from any location with internet connectivity. The ASP service offers unlimited scalability to meet the demands of business, user growth, and data storage.  Additional specific applications may be installed after testing on server farm (optional).

Financial Flexibility

• Save on software costs, upgrades and new versions
• Save of Anti –Virus software, spam filtering software and Spyware/Adware monitoring
• Save time on software configuration and updates
• Save on backup devices, software and time
• Save on downtime though 99.7% availabilitySimple monthly fee – add users as and when required

Service

• 24 x7 e-mail and telephone based customer support
• SLA's

For further information please refer to commoly asked FAQ's or e-mail us at cdo@localhost or call on +41 (0)41 766 3150.

FAQ's for Application Service Providing

• What does ASP mean?
• Where is the hosting facility?
• What is the difference between the ASP service and the applications I have on my local PC?
• What are the main benefits?
• How much does this cost?
• Will I save money by using this instead of buying and installing applications on my local PC?
• Is my data safe?
• How do I backup my data?
• Who else has access to my data?
• What happens if I don’t have an internet connection?
• How can I access my applications and data? / Do I need any special software to access the site?
• How will my e-mail work?
• How can I print?
• Can I transfer data for the Server Farm to my local computer and vice – versa?
• Can I open multiple user accounts?
• If I want to buy an additional application can I put them on the server farm?
• What applications available?
• What security is in place?
• How often will my data be backed up?
• Can I work offline?Is there a minimum contract period?

What does ASP mean?

Application Service Provider Back to top

Where is the hosting facility?

In the Swiss Alps the Gotthard massive, a mountain range between Switzerland an Italy provides a host to a highly secure”nuclear proof” ex military bunker. This is now also used to store highly sensitive corporate and government information both electronically and physically. Back to top

What is the difference between the ASP service and the applications I have on my local PC?

With an ASP all applications are hosted and managed centrally on state of the art high performance server clusters and all processing is carried out on these servers – not your local PC or connecting device (“client”) and enabled for you to access anytime form anywhere via an internet connection.  Therefore you do not need to worry about and updates, hot fixes, service packs, backups or security. The applications, data and servers are monitored and professionally managed on a 24 x 7 basis with state of the art physical and advanced electronic security, daily and weekly data backup and disaster recovery protection. On your local PC applications, data and processing is all installed and conducted on your local PC  and hard drive or LAN which is maintained solely by you. Back to top

What are the main benefits?

• Mobility, access applications and information wherever you are at any time whether travelling, at client sites or via a mobile wireless connection.
• Reduction in Total Cost of Ownership ( save on , management time associated with installing and maintaining local applications, security requirements, backups, lost productivity, external costs associated with PC maintenance, software upgrades).
• Minimal requirements for LAN/WAN-bandwidth.
• Nothing to install or maintain on your local PC/Servers
• Instant and automatic OS and core application upgrades when they become available
• Real-time Raid-5 disk systems, daily full backup
• Increased productivity with 99.7% uptime guaranteed
• Infinitely scaleable – add 1 to 100 additional employees in no time without the need to acquire additional hardware, software or construct local networks.
• Server Hardware OS and physical hardware upgraded periodically to ensure optimum performance
• Power backup and redundancy protection - through location in a professionally maintained data centre
• Intrusion detection
• Firewall protection
• Redundant internet connections
• VPN encryption and authentication (optional)

How much does this cost?

The monthly cost can vary depending on the applications you would like to use. Please ask us for a quote. 

Will I save money by using this instead of buying and installing applications on my local PC?

In the vast majority of cases yes.

• as you do not need to pay for upgrades e.g. latest O/S or version of Office and so on
•  Without any doubt to enjoy the same level of availability, physical and electronic and internet security, hardware performance , backup, redundancy protection and scalability would cost many thousands of dollars in capital costs and literally thousands per year in third party software, support and maintenance costs.

Is my data safe? Undoubtedly YES- especially when compared to the risks associated with management of a local PC- theft, fire, virus attack, corruption, data corruption, and encryption.

How do I backup my data? All Data Centre backups are performed centrally on a daily basis in addition to monthly and annual back ups. Additionally – all files are stored on Real-time Raid-5 disk systems.

Who else has access to my data? Only you and the data centre administrator has access to your personal data files. You may partition your workspace to allow individual users private access areas and workgroup (shared) access areas and  are able to control which user has rights of access to which areas and applications if required.

What happens if I don’t have an internet connection? Without an internet connection you will not be able to access your applications or data. However this can be accessed anywhere - so even if you were to temporarily lose a local internet connection you would be able to relocate to another location and use another connection to instantly access your applications and data. This architecture is now widely used by some of the largest enterprises after the Sept 11th attacks in New York and is an ideal disaster recovery solution. 

How can I access my applications and data? Do I need any special software to access the site? A) Via standard web browser using an active-X plug-in B) Via an RDP Client installed on your local computer, this is standard feature (pre-installed) on PC’s with a Windows XP Professional Operating System.

How will my e-mail work? On the server farm you would have Outlook 2003 client software installed, where you may set-up your existing e-mail accounts. Your existing address book may be imported if required. Therefore you can then access your e-mail from anywhere at anytime via your Outlook Application - not just web mail.

How can I print? If your printer is attached to your local PC, then it will be automatically mapped into your server farm environment and you will be able to print documents residing on the server on you local printer using the normal print command. Your exiting printer drivers will work fine. If you have network printers, then this can be done via IP-Port mapping allowing also other users (in your company) to access your network printer.

Can I transfer data for the Server Farm to my local computer and vice – versa? Yes, there are two options; 1. Client drive mapping – this will map your local drives into the Server Farm enabling you to copy and paste files and folders between your local PC drive and your server drive. 2. By Uploading  and downloading via an FTP account you will be provided with if you have the need to transfer big files (e.g. 100+ MB)

Can I open multiple accounts? Yes, no problem. This is also beneficial because the environment is 100% scaleable and you can also benefit from use of a workgroup drive enabling you to collaborate and share documents with all or selected users within your company.

If I want to buy an additional application can I put them on the server farm? Yes. We never introduce new programs or versions without testing them before thoroughly. We do test the applications in our staging- and test-centre, thus making sure they are designed to work in an ASP/ Server Farm environment. If such an application is likely to be of use to multiple users this could be set up on a shared cost basis through an incremental monthly charge – otherwise the requesting customer would be charged for testing and installation along with any third party license costs.

What applications available? Standard Applications Operation system is Window 2008 Office Standard (including MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint / Multilingual) Office Professional (including MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and FrontPage / Multilingual)

• Outlook 2003
• Acrobat Reader
• ZIP (Compressing Tool)
• MS Picture Manager   

Options (Under investigation) 

• Microsoft Navision (Bookkeeping / CRM)
• Quickbooks
• ACT! (CRM)   

These are the standard application which are instantly available. Basically most well known software applications on the market can be configured to run within a Data Centre environment. So if you need a special application –just  let us know and we will tell you if this is possible and what the additional costs would be. 

What security is in place? The Data enter is located in a ex-military bunker . Today it is privately operated but nearly the same level of security is maintained. Physical access to the Server farm is strictly limited and only authorised if approved 4 weeks in advance is accepted. We have the highest possible security in place, like multi level door locks (key plus pin code), video controlled and so on.

How often will my data be backed up? All Data Centre backups are performed centrally on a daily basis in addition to monthly and annual back ups. Additionally – all files are stored on Real-time Raid-5 disk systems.

Can I work offline? If you use a PC or Laptop to access the Data Centre, then Yes you can of course use your local applications and after you connect to the Data Centre you can upload your files to the Data Centre. 

Is there a minimum contract period? 3 Months