SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXTENDING CLOUD SERVICES INTO THE CUSTOMER PREMISE

1 . A computer program product comprising:

a first set of program instructions comprising an agent to execute on one or more local computers that are part of a corporate network that is separated from the Internet by at least one firewall, the firewall operating independently of the agent, wherein the agent to act as a local agent, of a cloud-based management platform located outside of the corporate network, to facilitate cloud-based management of the one or more local computers, wherein the agent further to:

gather status information from the one or more local computers;

initiate a secure network connection to the cloud-based management platform; and

report the status information to the cloud-based management platform via the secure network connection; and

a second set of program instructions that provide a web portal for a human administrator to request, from the cloud-based management platform, changes to the configuration of the one or more local computers including an identification of one or more types of the status information to be gathered from the one or more local computers and reported to the cloud-based management platform, wherein the agent further to:

receive, from the cloud-based management platform, a set of instructions created by the cloud-based management platform to request the changes, and

make the changes to the one or more local computers responsive to the set of instructions from the cloud-based management platform.

2 . The computer program product of claim 1 , further comprising a third set of program instructions defining the cloud-based management platform to generate the set of instructions and send the set of instructions to the agent, and wherein the third set of program instructions are stored on the one or more computer readable storage media.

3 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the agent further to receive the set of instructions from the cloud-based management platform using an XMPP protocol over the secure network connection.

4 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the web portal comprises a dashboard to allow the human administrator to view status information pertaining to the agent and the one or more local computers.

5 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the web portal comprises an interface to allow the human administrator to define alerts pertaining to status information relating to the agent and the one or more local computers.

6 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the web portal comprises an interface to allow the human administrator to remotely upgrade the agent.

7 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the agent further to check in with a heartbeat server periodically to determine whether any updates from the cloud-based management platform are waiting to be sent to the agent.

8 . A method, comprising:

gathering status information from the one or more local computers;

initiating a secure network connection to a cloud-based management platform;

reporting the status information to the cloud-based management platform via a secure network connection;

receiving, from the cloud-based management platform, a set of instructions created by the cloud-based management platform to request changes to the configuration of the one or more local computers and an identification of one or more types of the status information to be gathered from the one or more local computers and reported to the cloud-based management platform, and

making the changes to the one or more local computers.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising receiving the set of instructions from the cloud-based management platform using an XMPP protocol over the secure network connection.

10 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising providing a web portal for a human administrator to request, from the cloud-based management platform, the changes.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the web portal comprises a dashboard that allows the human administrator to view status information pertaining to the agent and the one or more local computers.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the web portal comprises an interface that allows the human administrator to define alerts pertaining to status information relating to the agent and the one or more local computers.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the web portal comprises an interface that allows the human administrator to remotely upgrade the agent via the Internet.

14 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising querying a heartbeat server periodically to determine whether any updates from the cloud-based management platform are waiting to be sent to the agent.

15 . An apparatus, comprising:

a hardware resource to:

gather status information from the one or more local computers;

initiate a secure network connection to a cloud-based management platform;

report the status information to the cloud-based management platform via a secure network connection;

receive, from the cloud-based management platform, a set of instructions created by the cloud-based management platform to request changes to the configuration of the one or more local computers and an identification of one or more types of the status information to be gathered from the one or more local computers and reported to the cloud-based management platform, and

make the changes to the one or more local computers.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the hardware resource further to receive the set of instructions from the cloud-based management platform using an XMPP protocol over the secure network connection.

17 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the hardware resource further to provide a web portal for a human administrator to request, from the cloud-based management platform, the changes.

18 . The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the web portal comprises a dashboard that allows the human administrator to view status information pertaining to the agent and the one or more local computers.

19 . The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the web portal comprises an interface that allows the human administrator to define alerts pertaining to status information relating to the agent and the one or more local computers.

20 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the web portal comprises an interface that allows the human administrator to remotely upgrade the agent via the Internet.

21 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the hardware resource further to query a heartbeat server periodically to determine whether any updates from the cloud-based management platform are waiting to be sent to the agent.