Web-enabling applications for outsourced computing

The business of information has exploded since the birth of the Internet in the early 1960s. Advances in software and hardware engineering have transformed the role of the Internet from merely data and information delivery to the largest computing service delivery infrastructure in history. This transformation has created a gradual shift toward distributed computing and the application service provider (ASP) model for computing service delivery. The ASP market is largely driven by the increasing popularity of browser-based computing and the growing tendency for companies to outsource mission-critical functions. Advantages of the ASP model include reduced installation and support requirements, instant updates and synchronization, mass customization, and universal accessibility. Despite the obvious benefits, the ASP model has not yet gained momentum in power engineering, where most applications still conform to the traditional, standalone, three-tier architecture. The methodology featured in this article takes a traditional engineering application and Web-enables it for the ASP market. The article describes the architecture of traditional and enterprise applications and presents the technologies and issues involved in deploying a traditional engineering application over the Internet.