Intel gets into the cloud game to flog Xeon servers

CHIPMAKER Intel has got into the cloud game, launching its Appup cloud service for small businesses.

Chipzilla has been making noises that it wants to go big in the cloud market, and by launching Appup Intel will go up against some of its biggest customers, including Dell, HP, IBM and cloud service providers such as Amazon and Salesforce.com. Intel's so-called hybrid cloud system will give customers an onsite server with a library of third party applications.

The hybrid cloud package Intel offers gives customers an Intel Xeon based server that holds data onsite but applications reside on the cloud. Hybrid clouds are gaining traction among firms that are uncomfortable putting confidential data on the internet, whether it be in a public or private cloud.

Intel's server tracks software usage and sends back a report to Intel every month. Intel then uses this usage data to bill the customer, making it a pay-as-you-go system.

At launch Intel said the server that customers can have onsite initially will either be a 'white box' server or a Lenovo Thinkserver TS200v. The firm said servers from Acer, NEC and others will become available in the future but it expects that all the servers will have Intel's Xeon chips.

The delivery of services seems something of a departure for a company that has made most of its money flogging silicon. However Intel's cunning plan is to sell more Xeon servers by leveraging the interest in cloud based applications services.

Initially Intel is launching its Appup service only in the US and India, however the firm said that it expects to expand the service to other countries. µ