Application service architecture

Application service architecture (ASA) is an emerging discipline within IT that involves a top down approach to monitoring, controlling, securing, and optimizing applications in transit. This Application layer approach allows companies to manage the application service independently of the infrastructure to promote flexibility in the deployment, use, and provisioning of their application infrastructure. It also allows companies to better align IT with the business by bridging the gap between infrastructure and applications.
A properly designed ASA solution will enable companies to more effectively manage and secure applications across any kind of network medium. As such, ASA can be broken down into specific categories that represent the primary disciplines associated with managing applications as they transit network resources. Those disciplines include:
This approach to application management provides a comprehensive strategy for delivering any application to any user. This focus is especially important for initiatives like virtualization, cloud computing, software or infrastructure as a service, and any external applications, like Web 2.0, that are used by the business.
This framework is focused on the application delivery process not the application server environment, which becomes an important distinction when contrasted against application performance management solutions.
Disciplines incorporated in ASA: