On-premise AI for business: your data stays yours
In Italy AI spreads fast among large enterprises, but SMEs lag behind. An on-site AI data center brings contract review, manual search, bid preparation and transcriptions without trade secrets and sensitive data ever leaving the company.
Why on-site, why off-grid.
- In Italy AI spreads fast among large enterprises (53.1%), but SMEs lag behind (15.7%).
- Trade secrets, designs and bids should not end up on third-party servers.
- Pay-per-use API costs are hard to predict; for intensive use a predictable cost is needed.
of Italian enterprises with at least 10 employees use AI in 2025 (8.2% in 2024); large 53.1%, SMEs 15.7%
ISTAT- trade secrets, designs and bids that must not end up on third-party servers
- predictable costs rather than pay-per-use
- integration with ERP and email
Sovereign by design.
- Trade secrets that stay in the company.
- A predictable cost instead of pay-per-use.
- Integration with ERP and email.
Size it. Then verify it
with a feasibility study.
Questions people ask.
01How do you install AI in a company without sending data to the cloud?+
With an on-site AI data center: open-source models run on local GPU servers and documents and prompts never leave the company network. Barrel Digital provides hardware, solar energy and software; the feasibility study sizes the system to users and processes.
02Is a local model or a pay-per-use API better?+
Honest answer: open-model APIs are cheap. On site pays off for confidentiality, control, intensive use and continuity. For light, non-sensitive use an API may be enough; for trade secrets and high volumes, local pays back.
03Which open-source models can be used commercially?+
It depends on the license: many models (MIT, Apache 2.0) can be used commercially, others have thresholds or constraints. See the license guide.
04What hardware is needed to run DeepSeek or Qwen locally?+
It depends on the model and the number of users. Use the configurator to size GPUs, memory and energy.