Talk to Us!

In this issue of Application Service Provider UPDATE, I'd like to reverse our normal process and ask you to talk to us. Please take a look at the following questions regarding the strategic and tactical editions of Application Service Provider UPDATE, and post your replies in the reader comment section to the right of this article. Your feedback will help us tailor the newsletter to your needs, so please be sure to participate!

Are you an application service provider (ASP), customer of an ASP, provider of inhouse terminal services, or just interested in server-based computing?
Are you more interested in coverage of the ASP market or of how ASPs are addressing particular problems/challenges?
Do you use or supply Web applications or use terminal sessions to make applications available to your customers?
Do you run Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition (TSE) or Win2K Server Terminal Services?
Do you use Citrix MetaFrame? Do you use MetaFrame for UNIX? Do you plan to upgrade to MetaFrame XP?
Do you use PCs, Windows terminals, or other devices as terminal clients?
What kinds of applications do your users exploit in a terminal services environment: task-based (kiosk) applications, business (spreadsheet and word-processing) applications, or complex (e.g., CAD) applications?
How many users do you support with terminal services?
Do you use terminal services more often to support users over high-speed networks or over slower connections?
What's the single biggest headache you experience in supporting Windows terminal services?
Which technical conferences do you attend?
Would you prefer to receive Application Service Provider UPDATE in text or HTML format (or would you prefer a choice of formats)?
Do you prefer to have all the content in the e-newsletter or a summary-and-link approach?

End of Article

1. Inhouse terminal services 
2. Adressing particular problems 
3. Terminal sessions 
4. NT 4.0 Terminal server 
5. Use Citrix Metaframe. No plans to upgrade to XP yet 
6. PCs 
7. Business applications 
8. 300 
9. More often on high-speed networks (256K+) 
10. Unstable platform 
11. None. No time 
12. HTML format 
13. In e-newsletter 

Stig Johansen May 16, 2001

Are you an application service provider (ASP), customer of an ASP, provider of inhouse terminal services, or just interested in server-based computing?
Full Service Provider, including Applications. 

Are you more interested in coverage of the ASP market or of how ASPs are addressing particular problems/challenges?
Equally interested in both. 

Do you use or supply Web applications or use terminal sessions to make applications available to your customers?
Both supply Web apps and make business apps via TSE and Citrix available to customers. 

Do you run Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition (TSE) or Win2K Server Terminal Services?
We have ran both, currently using Win2K. 

Do you use Citrix MetaFrame? Do you use MetaFrame for UNIX? Do you plan to upgrade to MetaFrame XP?
Yes, we use Citrix MegaFrame. Not for UNIX. Perhaps. 

Do you use PCs, Windows terminals, or other devices as terminal clients?
PCs and Windows terminals. 

What kinds of applications do your users exploit in a terminal services environment: task-based (kiosk) applications, business (spreadsheet and word-processing) applications, or complex (e.g., CAD) applications?
Proprietary business applications. 

How many users do you support with terminal services?
Varies as we switch users based on their success with Citrix or terminal services. 

Do you use terminal services more often to support users over high-speed networks or over slower connections?
Slower connections. 

What's the single biggest headache you experience in supporting Windows terminal services?
Dropped sessions. 

Which technical conferences do you attend?
None. 

Would you prefer to receive Application Service Provider UPDATE in text or HTML format (or would you prefer a choice of formats)?
HTML. 

Do you prefer to have all the content in the e-newsletter or a summary-and-link approach?
Summary-and-link. 

Tim Knox May 16, 2001

Talk To Us! answers: 
1. provider 
2. both 
3. web because of Terminal Server licensing costs 
4. only in Admin mode due to licensing costs 
5. never 
6. PCs 
7. everything imaginable (hey, we're HostPro!) 
8. in-house only, several hundred 
9. high 
10. astronomical licensing cost => 2 users per machine concurrently 
11. lots, various 
12. I prefer html, but people should have the choice 
13. html format with summary at top and links into the body 

Lloyd Martin May 16, 2001

1) Our company produces middleware that allows our customer base to develop solutions that are vendor agnostic. Our middleware must operate in the Terminal Services environment. 
2) We are interested in the technical ins and outs of how Terminal Services works so we can taylor our solutions to this environment. 
3) Yes 
4) Yes (all) 
5) Yes Metaframe Clients (all kinds) 
6) Yes (all) 
7) Task Based 
8) None, Our customers however implement enterprise wide solutions. 
9) 100mbs ethernet. Our customers however use all kinds 
10) Complete and total lack of good documentation from both Microsoft and Citrix. This is the most obscure platform we have ever tried to develop for. After it is all said and done it looks like a complete hack to me (from a technical standpoint). 
11) None - I never get out from behind this computer screen. 
12) All content in the email with links to more if necessary. 

Zach Cox May 16, 2001

1. Are you an application service provider (ASP), customer of an ASP, provider of inhouse terminal services, or just interested in server-based computing?

inhouse terminal services 

2. Are you more interested in coverage of the ASP market or of how ASPs are addressing particular problems/challenges?

addressing... 

3. Do you use or supply Web applications or use terminal sessions to make applications available to your customers?

both 
4. Do you run Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition (TSE) or Win2K Server Terminal Services?

win2k 

5. Do you use Citrix MetaFrame? Do you use MetaFrame for UNIX? Do you plan to upgrade to MetaFrame XP?

no, no, yes 

6. Do you use PCs, Windows terminals, or other devices as terminal clients?

all the above 

7. What kinds of applications do your users exploit in a terminal services environment: task-based (kiosk) applications, business (spreadsheet and word-processing) applications, or complex (e.g., CAD) applications?

task, communication and business apps 

8. How many users do you support with terminal services?

1,000 

9. Do you use terminal services more often to support users over high-speed networks or over slower connections?

50-50 

10. What's the single biggest headache you experience in supporting Windows terminal services?

compatible apps for win2k server (like Symantec's NAV product) 

11. Which technical conferences do you attend?

none 

12. Would you prefer to receive Application Service Provider UPDATE in text or HTML format (or would you prefer a choice of formats)?

choice 

13. Do you prefer to have all the content in the e-newsletter or a summary-and-link approach?

summary and link 

Christopher Rhoda May 16, 2001

1) in-house terminal services 
2) particular problems/challenges 
3) not yet 
4) Win2K Terminal Services 
5) No, no, no 
6) Windows terminals predominantly, a few PCs 
7) business apps 
8) 15 
9) high-speed 
10) badly written applications that require too many system privileges 
11) 
12) text 
13) content in newsletter 

 
Thanks, and keep up the good work!

Nick May 16, 2001

1) In house 
2) both 
3) terminal sessions 
4) TSE (planning to upgrade to W2K) 
5) yes, no, yes 
6) few PC's, mostly Unix workstations and X-terminals 
7) business and complex (compilers, IDE, ...) 
8) 150 
9) high speed 
10) account synchronization between terminal servers and Unix servers/workstations 
11) sysadmin conferences and (focused) seminars when applicable 
12) text 
13) summary-and-link 

Bart Swennen May 16, 2001

Answers to questions:
 
1. inhouse terminal services 
2. problems/challenges 
3. mostly terminal sessions 
4. win2k 
5. Metaframe 1.8, No Unix, Yes plan to upgrade to XP 
6. Various devices 
7. Mixture 
8. 1500 at present (20,000 in next 2 years) 
9. slow connections (limited bandwidth) 
10. User profile management for desktop publishing 
11. Various (not all public) 
12. HTML 
13. Don't Care 

David Miller May 16, 2001

1)just interested in server-based computing 
2)how ASPs are addressing particular problems/challenges 
3)Yes, use terminal sessions 
4)Win2K Server Terminal Services 
5)No 
6)PCs 
7)task-based and business apps 
8)10 
9)high-speed networks 
10)licensing issues 
11)None 
12)html 
13)all the content in the e-newsletter 

Ken Potter May 16, 2001

1) inhouse terminal services provider (at a University) 
2) ASP technical developments 
3) provide applications via terminal sessions 
4) only W2K Terminal Services 
5) don't and won't use Citrix 
6) so far only PCs 
7) complex applications - GIS, statistical apps, and such 
8) so far just a handful - we are still trying to figure a way to successfully manage the licensing 
9) high speed connections 
10) licensing - by far! 
11) as few as possible 
12) text - but you could offer choice 
13) perfer all content 

ben May 16, 2001

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