REMOTE PROVISIONING OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

• US 20080215450A1
• Filed: 09/28/2006
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cheng, Lili, MacLaurin, Matthew B., Meijer, Henricus Johannes Maria, Ozzie, Raymond E., Flake, Gary W., Hunt, Galen C., Larus, James R., Brumme, Christopher W., Blinn, Arnold N., Gounares, Alexander G., Glasser, Daniel S., Snyder, Ira L., Mital, Amit, Bergstraesser, Thomas F., Mishra, Debi P., Dani, Nishant V., Thekkath, Chandramohan A., Gates, William H.
• Application Number:
  US11/536,578
• Publication Number:
  US 20080215450A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70

Abstract

Remote provisioning of an IT network and/or associated services is provided. Hardware, software, service and/or expertise can be moved from on-premise to a remote location (e.g., central, distributed . . . ). Accordingly, at least a large degree computation can be moved to the center to exploit economies of scale, among other things. In such an architecture, computational resources (e.g., data storage, computation power, cache . . . ) can be pooled, and entities can subscribe to a particular level of resources related to a private entity IT network.

Claims

1. A system that provides information technology (IT) to an entity, comprising:

at least one off-premise apportioned computer resource; and

an off-premise service component that manages the at least one resource to remotely provide at least one private IT network to the entity.

2. The system of claim 1, the service component controls access to resources in accordance with an entity subscription.

3. The system of claim 2, the service component throttles entity access to one or more of processing power, cache, electronic storage and communication bandwidth based on the subscription.

4. The system of claim 1, the IT network comprises a service that provides at least one of entity server functionality, application software and electronic mail.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a setup component that enables designation of one or more of entity user roles, settings, permissions and pass codes associated with the network.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an authentication component that determines a user identity associated with attempted network access; and

an authorization component that controls network access based on the identity and entity network settings.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising an interface component that provides a set of links to remote software applications and/or services employable by an entity user in a manner that makes the applications and/or services appear local.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising an assistance component that initiates a communication session with a remote technician to receive technical assistance with respect to the entity network.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component that facilitates purchase of a right to utilize resources of a client device by the service component.

10. A method of provisioning IT services, comprising the following computer-implemented acts:

contacting a third-party IT service; and

utilizing the IT service to establish and/or maintain an entity computer network comprising hardware and/or software remotely from the third-party IT service location.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising interacting with a plurality of remotely executed enterprise software applications.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising setting rules, policies and/or roles for network usage by individuals associated with the entity.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising initiating software installation with respect to at least one of a local device and the remote service via the service.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising initiating dialog with a representative of the third-party service to address an issue with the service.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising subscribing to a level of the IT service based on need and/or usage.

16. The method of claim 15, subscribing to the service comprises subscribing to at least one of a level of processing power for entity transaction execution, a portion of electronic storage associated with a data store shared with other subscribers and a bandwidth for communication with the service

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising caching data locally to enable offline interaction.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising sharing client device resources the service to facilitate establishment and/or maintenance of the network.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising selling available client resources to the service.

20. A computer-implemented system for affording enterprise IT services remotely, comprising:

means for determining computational ability of a client device communicatively coupled to an off-premise enterprise network; and

means for optimally apportioning off-premise computer resources that form enterprise networks for a myriad of service subscribing enterprises based on the computational ability of the device, available resources and an associated subscription.