IBM Offers New Small Business Solution for Windows NT
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Las Vegas (November 17, 1998) – At COMDEX/Fall ? today, IBM announced that, for the first time, it will offer an integrated software suite for Windows NT** targeted toward small and medium-sized businesses.
The IBM Small Business Suite for Windows NT brings together the essential tools for implementing Internet and intranet-based applications and e-mail services, including:
E-mail, calendaring and scheduling capabilities;
A powerful relational database for managing information;
Fax and modem pooling services; and
Application templates for office directories, on-line discussions, document management, and other business management tasks.
“The IBM Small Business Suite offers everything small and growing businesses running on the Windows NT platform need to transform their businesses into e-businesses,” said Steve Solazzo, vice president of Solution Developers and Small/Growing Businesses, IBM Software. “The suite also creates a tremendous opportunity for developers and channel partners to improve their profitability by bringing new e-business applications and services to the market faster.”
Pricing, features, and support programs are structured to make it easy for software developers, resellers and distributors to buy, use, support and sell the IBM Small Business Suite. For example, the suite server is priced under $500, and each organization can license up to 100 registered users. The suite client includes Lotus Notes Desktop*, DB2* Universal Database, and Netscape Navigator***, and is available for less than $100.
The integration of IBM DB2* Universal Database and Lotus Domino* messaging and application server into the new IBM suite provides a reliable, secure and affordable technology base for building applications for small and growing businesses. DB2 is the industry’s foremost relational database for linking business information with the Internet, managing business intelligence applications, and processing transactions. With Domino, users gain the leading messaging and collaboration platform as their foundation for building and deploying small-business applications.
“The IBM Small Business Suite gives us the best of all worlds: the fast development environment of Domino and real-time access to the power of DB2 — both packaged in a way that makes the technology extremely easy to use,” said Herve Timsit, president of Peritek SA, a Paris-based software company that delivers mission-critical applications to companies of all sizes.
The new IBM suite also includes innovative installation technology that allows solution providers to configure complete networks of clients and servers — including Domino-based applications from third-party vendors — quickly and easily. Using the Integrated Installation Pack, a small business can be operational — with e-mail, messaging and collaboration, and fax capabilities — often in less than an hour. This quick-installation tool maintains client/server profiles, saving software vendors time and effort with subsequent installations.
“Installations can involve up to a hundred client seats, and visiting each desktop can take weeks or months of effort,” said Bud Brasier, president of Emerging Technology Solutions. “The technology IBM has developed will significantly reduce the time required for installations and enable us to refocus our energies on building new business solutions for our clients.”
The IBM Small Business Suite also integrates FAXport*** and WINport*** technologies from LANSource Technologies Inc., making it intuitive for businesses to prepare, send and receive faxes, and enabling secure sharing of modems and data lines.
IBM is making available a range of marketing, sales and technical support programs to help value-added distributors and resellers, systems integrators and software vendors sell and support the IBM Small Business Suite for Windows NT. Included are free copies of the suite for qualified developers; product training; co-marketing programs; help-desk services, at no charge for the first 90 days; and on-line technical support.
As a value-added reseller for IBM’s Netfinity* line of Intel-based servers, Houston On-Site, Inc., serves a diverse group of small businesses, ranging from manufacturers to construction, legal and accounting firms. “Our customers don’t have big I/T budgets or staffs, so they’re looking for total solutions that will do the work for them and that are easy to manage,” said Sean Priddy, Houston On-Site president. “With so many software packages available today, the fundamental question we get from our clients is, ‘Can you make it work?’ With IBM’s Small Business Suite, the answer is easy. This suite will definitely enable us to provide better support to our clients, and we know IBM will be there to support us.”
Pricing, Terms and Availability
The Small Business Suite for Windows NT, Version 1.0, will be available exclusively through IBM and Lotus channel partners. Initial shipments of English language versions will begin in late November. Versions of the suite in other languages, including Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish, will be available in early 1999.
Organizations, or groups of affiliated companies, can obtain licenses for up to 100 registered users. The licensing charge per server is $499, and $99 per registered user. Five- and ten-user licenses are available for $469 and $899, respectively. A server and five registered users can be licensed for $968, and a server configuration with 25 registered users is available for $2,766.
Lotus SmartSuite Millennium Edition* (excluding voice functionality) is shipped with the IBM Small Business Suite server. Licenses offer an option to include this productivity suite with desktop clients for a combined price of $149. With SmartSuite, users gain word processing, spreadsheet and Web publishing capabilities. Five- and ten-user licenses are available for $649 and $1,349, respectively.
Software licensing agreements enable users to install suite components across multiple servers based on a single suite license.
Source: IBM