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Dear MCGer's, I was wondering whether I could enlist your help in a research paper which the Collections Trust is considering at the moment. We are looking into the potential for museums to move towards the use of Collections Management Systems as remotely hosted, browser-accessible applications. With the rise of utility computing and improvements in bandwidth, it seems as though many industries are revisiting the Application Service Provider model (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_Service_Provider) as a cost-effective way of managing both applications and data. On the face of it, there are some appealing benefits to the ASP (not Active Server Pages) model for Collections Management Systems. These include: * Centralising (and therefore simplifying) the upgrade path for software * Enabling developers to rollout extensions to functionality globally across their client base * Reducing the requirement for local data storage and management * Potentially facilitating the processes of Digital Preservation for museum data * Potential cost-savings on technical support and development On the other hand, there is the risk that museums could perceive a move towards an ASP-based CMS as a loss of control or potentially integration with other museum systems, or that connectivity isn't robust enough provide a service as reliable as a Local Area Network/client-side application. The cost-savings and efficiency gains of this development could potentially be significant, but at the moment we have no clear evidence about how this model might be/is being applied. I would therefore welcome any and all thoughts or comments on this issue, and particularly: - Is anyone on the list using a Collections Management System under an Application Service Provider model? - Are any software developers on the list already providing or planning to provide such a service? - What do people think would be the reaction to this if it were to become a clear direction of travel for information systems? Hope you don't mind acting as a reference group, but if there's sufficient interest, we'll follow up with some concerted research and publish a paper on it later in the year. With thanks, Nick Nick Poole Chief Executive Collections Trust www.collectionstrust.org.uk www.collectionslink.org.uk www.cuturalpropertyadvice.gov.uk Tel: 01223 316028 Fax: 01223 364658 Until the end of April 2008, the Collections Trust's legal trading name is: MDA (Europe) Ltd Company Registration No: 1300565 Reg. Office: 22 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1JP. The Collections Trust believes that everybody, everywhere should have the right to access and benefit from cultural collections. Our aim is to develop programmes and standards which help connect people and culture. The Collections Trust was launched from its predecessor body, the MDA, in March 2008. ************************************************** For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk **************************************************