Dotcom malaise moving to ASP market

The fall-out in the dotcom industry continued unabated in June with another

53 Internet companies closing shop and there are some signs the malaise in the

dotcom community may be spreading to other related areas such as applications

service providers (ASPs).

In all at least 555 dotcom firms have gone bust in the past 12 months, more

than 330 in the last six months alone, according to Webmergers.com announcement

in its latest report on the online economy. By comparison, only 35 dotcom

companies closed in the same period in 2000.

Perhaps most concerning is that the plague that is wiping out much of the

dotcom industry is infiltrating the market for ASPs, said Webmergers.com CEO Tim

Miller.

"The tail-end of the B2C shakeout is overlapping with the early stages

of the shakeout in more business-oriented companies, including access providers,

consultancies and providers of infrastructure software, including application

service providers (ASPs). So far this year 14 ASPs have shut down compared with

only several last year."