ASPs Remain Hotly Debated Segment as ASPCON Readies for New York City Run.

Business/Hi-Tech Editors

ASPCON Spring 2001

DARIEN, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2001

ASPCON Spring 2001 Slated Feb. 21 - 23 in NYC's Jacob K. Javits 

Convention Center; Industry Analyst Sees Shakeout as Prelude to

Explosive Market

ASPCON Spring 2001 is gearing up for an East Coast run February 21-23.

A production of Penton Media (NYSE: PME), ASPCON moves into New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center with a wide-ranging slate of educational sessions, plus more than 60 top vendors showcasing hundreds of the latest technologies for Application Service Providers (ASPs).

ASPs provide businesses with software applications and support via the Internet, rather than through packaged and licensed software.

Staged bi-annually, ASPCON is the industry's largest showcase for ASPs. The New York City show will be co-located this year with CLECexpo, another bi-annual Penton Media conference that brings together Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs), along with leading vendors who service them.

As ASPCON Spring 2001 dawns, ASPs remain a controversial business category, according to ASPCON Group Show Director Denise Kettler. "Depending on who you talk to, ASPs are either the hottest new Internet industry or the latest victims in the Internet industry shakeout," said Kettler. But, she added, Penton Media believes there's a bright future for the ASP segment, "Our goal going into the ASP space is to be a market advocate and empower the ASP community to learn from each other and their vendors, about how this model can be successful and profitable."

"Fortunately, many leading vendors agree with us." she continued. "They believe the ASP market is thriving and has a solid future, or they wouldn't spend their marketing dollars to reach the ASP community that ASPCON delivers."

One industry observer contends the "demise" of ASPs is nothing more than a shakeout in progress. In articles published in ASPnews.com last December, Bill Dering, a Wall Street analyst with C. E. Unterberg, Towbin, an investment partnership firm for high growth technology companies, wrote that ASPs will be key to the growth of the global economy over the next decade.

Dering doesn't dispute a Gartner Group forecast that predicts 60 percent of today's ASPs will fall by the wayside in coming months. "Over the next 15 months," he wrote, "we expect the ASP model to undergo a dramatic realignment that will shake out many old players and evolve beyond many of the issues that plague it today."

The survivors, Dering said, will be companies who succeed at providing customers with the technological expertise to manage their applications while also providing managed affordable infrastructures. He stated that time-to-market issues and predictable costs will also prove competitive advantages for market-savvy ASPs.

"ASPs are evolving as market leaders by introducing new technologies and systems that make outsourcing a smart choice for companies," echoes Penton Media's Kettler.

According to Facts Online, Inc., a sizable number of investors share Kettler and Dering's optimism. The company reports that of more than 263 U. S. businesses receiving new funding during December 2000, software companies continued to dominate investor dollars with a 27 percent share. Information services companies, including ASPs, garnered 9.9 percent of overall funding. Despite the ASP debate, Dataquest, Inc., a leading research firm, predicts the segment will generate more than $25 billion in revenues by 2004.

"We leave the forecasting to the researchers," said Kettler, "but we do see a strong market emerging for ASPs. The whole point of ASPCON is to provide a forum where these companies and their suppliers can discuss and analyze marketplace challenges in order to identify the elements of success," said Kettler.

For more information about registering to attend or exhibit at ASPCON, visit www.aspcon.com. ASPCON is sponsored by Lucent Technologies and Sun Microsystems.

ASPCON (www.aspcon.com) is produced by Penton Media's Service Provider Events Group. The Service Provider Events Group, located in Golden, Colorado also produces ISPCON (www.ispcon.com), the leading Internet Service Provider Convention and CLECexpo (www.clecexpo.com) the leading event for Competitive Local Exchange Carriers.

Penton Media, Inc. (NYSE: PME) is a leading diversified business media company that produces market-focused magazines, Web sites, trade shows, and conferences. Penton serves the Internet/broadband; natural products/food/retail; manufacturing; electronics; design/engineering; management; supply chain/aviation; government/compliance; mechanical systems/construction; and leisure/hospitality markets. For more information, visit www.penton.com.