SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 28— The Intel Corporation started a subsidiary today that will operate corporate computing systems over the Internet.
Intel plans to invest more than $1 billion in the new business, Intel Online Services Inc., which opened at a site near Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif.
Intel said its initial customers included the e-Citi unit of Citigroup, Excite@Home Shopping Service, and NEC. Intel also said it was working with Web development companies including iXL Enterprises Inc., PricewaterhouseCoopers, Proxicom, Razorfish, US Interactive, and Uunet on the new venture.
The on-line service, first announced by Intel in April, is the company's entry in the fast-growing market for so-called Web hosting. Such companies typically house and maintain a corporation's server computers at a remote site.
By offering regular software updates, duplicate power sources and backup capabilities, Web hosts give their customers greater reliability and predictable costs for their operations. 

Source : http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/29/business/intel-online-begins-web-hosting-service.html