Akademik

n.

A company that hosts or rents software and delivers the programs via the Internet.

"Internet technology has brought with it two new tools for the outsourcing enthusiasts: increasingly common languages for communication and, in the future, data, and the arrival of cheap, pervasive bandwidth on demand. . . .It would be old hat to call this revived trend by the same old name of outsourcing. So the IT industry has a new moniker — the suppliers of this wide variety of offerings will be known as applications service providers (ASPs)."

— David Hewson, "Tactic that's really taking off," Sunday Times (London)