Without detailed specs for the systems and the internet bandwidth capabilities it is hard to offer any solid ideas. Since there are lots of generic hosting pro

Without detailed specs for the systems and the internet bandwidth capabilities it is hard to offer any solid ideas. Since there are lots of generic hosting providers, it is probably not sufficiently lucrative area to enter. Are there opportunities with businesses in a similar area to your ex-client? Perhaps their competitors? If I were in your position, I would be looking at applying AI techniques to a niche domain. For example, text mining for legal documents, i.e. eDiscovery-like. The difficulty is that without application domain specific skills it is hard to create sufficient value-add to present a compelling business case.