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the Free CMSWire NewsletterIn a week that saw the release of the iPad, AT&T has promised to spend, spend, spend on SMB networks and applications, SharePoint gets an economical workflow monitor and there are rumors about a Microsoft BPOS ‘lite’.
Money For SMBs From AT&T
Seems someone in AT&T (news, site) is listening to SMBs. And if you were to take a recent statement by AT&T at face value whoever it is that has been listening is going to spend US $1bn this year to scale its delivery of applications, mobility and cloud services with the goal of getting SMBs back to work.
The end result, the company says, will be the expansion of small business services across the US. There are no newbies here, but if they do what they say they’re going to do it really should make a difference.
AT&T says it will deploy platforms and systems across its 22-state US footprint to accelerate the provisioning of multiple products and services. It also plans to increase broadband speeds up to 24 Mbps. Other plans include:
- Developing its current portfolio of flexible collaboration services and application
- Enhancing mobile solutions, applications and integrated devices to companies of all sizes, but with a focus on SMBs
- Build out its global network
Nice if they do it, but a lot of people are skeptical as it’s not the first time promises have been made.
Is BPOS Getting ‘Lite'?
A recent blog entry in ZDNet says there is a ‘lite’ version of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) on the way this year. This new ‘lite’ version will target SMB customers who Microsoft has been flirting a lot with recently.
BPOS is a productivity and collaboration suite offering cloud-hosted bundles of Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting.
In February, Microsoft (news, site) removed a job posting seeking a manager for a new hosted offering intended to bring email and collaboration services to SMBs.
According to text of the posting, this will be part of the 'next wave' of services targeting professional individuals and smaller organizations, offering Microsoft's best collaboration, communications and productivity services.
Word is that it will be unveiled in the second half of the year so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Monitoring SharePoint Workflows Cheaply
It wouldn’t be a week without some new SharePoint related release. This time it’s the turn of Virto Software (news, site) which has has released a new Microsoft SharePoint web part for monitoring workflows called Virto Workflow Monitor, and it is compatible with both SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010.
Virto Workflow Monitor is a simple component that allows administrators to monitor how workflows are running, and detect any errors in them.
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