After early hype, ASP market proves hard to crack Until broadband services became widely available, the software-for-rent sector faces an uphill task in winning customers, especially among smaller companies Read Bandwidth & technical issues Finding the correct connections is seldom a straightforward task In many areas, local access is still a barrier to ASP adoption. Typically, only large metropolitan areas have direct access to the vast capacity of the fibre optic cables Vertical service providers Plain vanilla solutions are no longer enough There is room for a wide range of ASPs, with some user companies wanting simple and cheap access to technology and others needing support to embrace best practice and deliver competitive advantage Irish high-tech industry Optimism remains amid fresh sense of realism Ireland, along with other countries, is feeling the slowdown in the high-tech sector. But the country has a robust IT infrastructure - and managing success is as much a challenge as coping with recent probelms E-commerce development Confident despite recent setbacks Ireland is becoming a favoured location for companies offering a variety of internet infrastructure services