While software – or even hardware – as a service isn't a novel concept, a market may be emerging for what some call "notebooks as a service."

One player in this space is a Canadian firm -- Markham, Ont.-based No Panic Computing Inc. (NPC) that recently announced an offering targeted at small business.   

Here's how it works: For an operating lease cost of $129.95 a month, an NPC small business customer receives an HP enterprise notebook pre-configured with Microsoft Office 2007, and anti-virus/anti-spyware software. A carrying case and notebook accessories are part of the package.

Once the business starts to use the notebook, all data and programs on the machine are backed up daily to a secure facility operated by Iron Mountain Inc., a global data protection and records management firm.

So if the notebook is stolen, broken, or its data compromised, NPC is able to replace the device, with all the data re-loaded to the time of the last backup.

Customers can also securely access their data from any Web browser while their notebook is being replaced, or when they're away from the machine.

This offering, says NPC president CEO Larry Keating, is just what the doctor ordered for many small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), for whom the notebook computer is becoming the default computing device.

Selecting, equipping and securely running such a machine, he said, is difficult for SMBs or knowledge workers who don't have access to an IT department.

So they walk into retail stores, pick up a few boxes, go home and try to make it all work together, he said. "That's crazy. It's like buying a refrigerator and going down the street to get an electric motor."

When you peel back the layers of many large corporate data breaches, Keating said, it turns out the most prevalent loss took place on a notebook computer, often belonging to a consultant from a small business.

The NPC executive said his company spent two years testing out the concept of notebooks as a service, and came up with an offering where data is secured, managed and backed up regularly, with 24 x7 support. This support is a crucial aspect the offering, suggested Keating.

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