Intel Corporation has launched the Intel AppUp Small Business Service, an innovative service running on the Intel Hybrid Cloud platform that enables server manufacturers, software vendors, and service providers to offer small businesses key advantages of cloud computing with applications and data running on their own premises.

Intel’s AppUp Small Business Service, enabled by the Intel Hybrid Cloud platform, represents a new business model for Intel. The solution consists of a server, a catalog of prepackaged small business applications from a broad range of software providers, and Intel-developed software to securely manage and track use of the application software. Small business customers access the solution through service providers, paying on a monthly basis for the software they use, just like in the cloud, but getting the responsiveness and control of running their applications and data onsite.

The Intel AppUp Small Business Service’s innovations include use of a subscription-based delivery model for software applications.  Intel-developed software activates, deactivates, and then tracks the customer’s usage of those applications on a platform that is secured using Intel Trusted Execution Technology in Intel Xeon processors. Each month, that server tracks software usage and sends a secure encrypted report to an Intel data center. Intel invoices the small business’s service provider, which bills the small business customer.

 In addition, service providers can remotely manage their customers’ servers that employ this Intel Hybrid Cloud reference design by using a Web portal hosted by Intel and secured by a Web application firewall and HTTPS encrypted communication.  Using Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT), service providers can remotely troubleshoot, diagnose, and support the servers, saving the time and cost of sending a technician onsite in most cases.