Is there the equivalent of cloud computing for modems?

Question

I asked this question on SF, and someone recommended that I ask it on SO, and on SO, it was voted to be closed, and someone suggest that I post it here - (and so, the merry go round continues) - so here is the question again:

I don't have enough points to create the tags saas, paas and remote-modem which this question should ideally be correctlty tagged with -hopefully, someone with enough points can retag this question.

Here is my question:

I am interested in the concept of PAAS (platform as a service). However, all talk about SAAS/PAAS seems to focus on only the computer itself - not its peripherals.

Is it possible to 'outsource' modems as a resource - so that an app running remotely can pump data to a modem in the cloud?

As a bit of background to the question, a group of us are thinking of starting a company that offers similar services to companies like twilio etc - but I want to 'outsource' both the computing hardware (thats PAAS - the easy bit) and the modems (thats what I cant seem to find any info on).

Does anyone know if modems can be bundled as part of a PAAS service? - alternatively, is there a way that an application running on one computer can communicate (i.e. pump data) to a remote modem residing on another machine?.

I assume I can come up with some protocol over UDP or TCP - but there is no point reinventing the wheel - if such a protocol like that already exists (or if it some open source software allows one to do this).

Any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

[Edit]

I want to offer a service similar to Twillio and others (who - with the possible exception of Twillio, are charging far too much for the service they provide). At a very simple level, we want to setup ourselves as provider of such services, but would prefer to 'outsource' the actual hardware (server + modem) if there is a choice. Since there [it appears], there is no such service - hence my investigation into the feasibility of hosting the servers + modems ourselves

Answer 1

I feel like the term "cloud computing" kind of implies the need for a modem. Unless you have a hard network connection from your servers to the client, how are you going to get the data to/from them?

Is it possible to 'outsource' modems as a resource - so that an app running remotely can pump data to a modem in the cloud?

If you can pump data to the cloud without a modem on the client side, I can't think of a reason you needed one in the first place.

On the other hand, depending on your definition of "cloud," any consumer with a cable modem and a gateway/router is using a "cloud modem."

Answer 2

What exactly do you want to do with the modems? Intellisoftware might be an option for you.