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?
Update: 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