Lucent launches ASP hosting service

Lucent is partnering with EMC, IBM and Sun Microsystems to form CyberCarriage, a data transport and hosting service for application service providers (ASPs) and ISPs worldwide.

The partnership will offer a range of network architecture components in one service. CyberCarriage will operate from data centres integrated with high bandwidth and wireless networks hosting variety of hardware such as servers and storage.

According to a Lucent spokeswoman, the service is available now and operated from Lucent's laboratories worldwide.

Martin Hingley, VP of European systems group at research firm IDC, said the venture is a strategic move intended to give Lucent a foothold in the burgeoning ASP marketplace.

He told silicon.com: "Everyone is looking to move into the ASP market now and we're going to see more partnerships bridging the gap between the ebusiness front and the actual operations and running of the back end, such as databases."

Hingley added: "The venture confirms the reversal of operations in the new economies: in a more traditional company the system architecture is developed first, but in the Internet-based companies the technology implementation has been reversed as many electronic storefronts have very little experience in running a complex IT system."