Sage North America has created a program that authorizes independent companies to host its Peachtree and Simply Accounting applications. For the launch of the Small Business Accounting Hosting Provider program Sage also announced four hosting companies that have been approved for participation.

Besides having access to accounting software data via the Internet, Sage said users of the two small business accounting applications would eliminate the need  to deploy and administer Sage Peachtree or Sage Simply Accounting across a network.

The hosting companies already approved are Right Networks, Myownasp.com, Insynq and Awensa. To be approved for hosting, companies  each pay a $2,000 authorization fee and a $2,000 annual renewal fee. Their servers must be housed in a minimum Tier III Certified Data Center and they must be members of the Microsoft Services Provider License Agreement program. They must also sign a Sage agreement and meet Peachtree system requirements and provide automated nightly backup.