Service provider

A service provider (SP) provides organizations with consulting, legal, real estate, communications, storage, processing. Although a service provider can be an organizational sub-unit, it is usually a third party or outsourced supplier, including telecommunications service providers (TSPs), application service providers (ASPs), storage service providers (SSPs), and internet service providers (ISPs). A more traditional term is service bureau (esp. 1960s to 1980s).

IT professionals sometimes differentiate between service providers by categorizing them as type I, II, or III.[1] The three service types are recognized by the IT industry although specifically defined by ITIL and the U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996.

• Type I: internal service provider
• Type II: shared service provider
• Type III: external service provider

Type III SPs provide IT services to external customers and subsequently can be referred to as external service providers (ESPs)[2] which range from a full IT organization/service outsource via managed services or MSPs (managed service providers) to limited product feature delivery via ASPs (application service providers).[3]

Types of service providers

• Application service provider (ASP)
• Network service provider (NSP)
• Internet service provider (ISP)
• Managed service provider (MSP)
• Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP)
• Storage service provider (SSP)
• Telecommunications service provider (TSP)
• SAML service provider
• Master managed service provider (MMSP)
• Managed Internet service provider (MISP)
• Online service provider (OSP)
• Payment service provider (PSP)
• Cleaning service provider
• Gardening service provider
• Pest control service provider
• Software, platform, infrastructure service provider in cloud computing
• Application software service provider in a service-oriented architecture (ASSP)

See also

• IP address
• Service bureau
• Service system
• Web service
• Identity management
• SAML 2.0
• Identity provider
• Connectivity Integrator

References

1. Stuart Rance and Ashley Hanna (30 May 2007). "Glossary of Terms, Definitions and Acronyms" (PDF). ITIL - IT Service Management. Office of Government Commerce. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
2. Staff (2011). "External Service Provider (ITILv3)". Knowledge Transfer. Knowledge Transfer. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
3. Barry J. (23 January 2012). "IT Policies - Policy on Use of External Services". The University of Chicago. The University of Chicago. Retrieved 3 June 2012.

Further reading

• Hall, Mark (7 February 2000). "Service Providers Give Users More IT Options". Computerworld: 40.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• "Mapping the xSP world". CIO: S8–S10. 15 September 2001.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)