By Regina Ciardiello, Editor, SMB Nation

Image: Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the busy week prior.

Here at SMB Nation, we have been busy preparing for the 2012 events season, as well as our editorial strategy for both SMB Nation and Cloud Nation. In addition, many of us here are getting ready to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday (and a shortened week) here in the United States. Like most of our (friendly) competitors and community members, we will be closed on Thursday and Friday of this week. On behalf of all of us at SMB Nation, we wish all of our tribal members and their families a happy holiday!
 
If you can break away from the holiday preparations and festivities scheduled for this week, why not check out what’s in store for our next live event, MVP Nation, to be held March 2-3, 2012, in Redmond, WA. For more information, and to register, go to: http://www.regonline.com/mvpnation2012.

Once again, here are a few snippets of information that we didn’t get a chance to bring you last week. Let us also know if there was something we might have missed, which is not mentioned in this entry…because as you know…we love news!

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By Regina Ciardiello, Editor, SMB Nation

It has long-been the tradition that video conferencing was intended for large enterprises, big boardrooms and even large lecture halls. However, this has changed in recent months, with several companies working to dispel this trend. While it is true that the SMB market has been overlooked in this area, there are companies who have developed video conferencing services for this group, which were initially designed for larger enterprises. SMBs can’t often utilize these services because they are not fit for their type platforms as well as within their budgets. Many times, they will just go with a consumer-grade service, such as Skype, Google Talk, and up until recently Cisco’s Umi Telepresence.

To fill this void in the SMB market, Vidtel announced earlier this week that it has teamed up with CMIT Solutions to provide a high-quality, cloud-based video conferencing service, Vidtel is offering MeetMe, which spans boardrooms, mobile workers and everything in between, including room-based video conferencing systems, executive desktop video systems, PCs/Macs, smartphones and tablets using any combination of SIP, H.323, Skype and Google Talk technologies.

A national provider of IT services and solutions to SMBs, CMIT Solutions will provide MeetMe via its 125 locally owned and operated U.S. locations. Through Vidtel’s service, CMIT Solutions’ customers nationwide now can conduct video conferences regardless of endpoint, platform or service and without the need for expensive bridges or exchange services.

CMIT Solutions is also one of the first participants in Vidtel’s newly established channel program, which is now formally open to VARs such as video conferencing specialists, AV integrators, VoIP providers and managed service providers.

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By Regina Ciardiello, Editor SMB Nation

Earlier this week, it came to my attention that a new start-up, Boundary, is getting ready launch its real-time monitoring-as-a-service platform in Beta. The San Francisco-based company says that its platform, designed for both public and private clouds, is designed to help customers pinpoint network and application hot spots – instantaneously. The platform is designed mainly for DevOps teams who require continuous visibility into their network and application traffic flows in public cloud environments like Amazon EC2 or private cloud data centers.

Co-founded by former Amazon Web Services executive Benjamin Black, Boundary also said that it received a $4 million Series A funding round for its Beta launch, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Black brings to the table a large-scale technology infrastructure experience from his time at Amazon Web Services. While there, Black was charged with design and implementation efforts for networking, security, and engineering of Amazon's website and Amazon EC2.

Along with Black, Boundary was co-founded by Cliff Moon, who was previously with Powerset (acquired by Microsoft) where he was instrumental in the design, implementation, launch, and operation of many of the company's production services.

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NetEnrich announced this morning that it will donate 5% of the total revenue generated from targeted sales within the Ingram Micro Venture Tech Network (VTN) community to the Joplin Habitat for Humanity.

Earlier this year, this close-knit Midwestern community was devastated by a tornado that killed 162 people and resulted in millions in damages to homes, damaging over 7,000 and completely destroying over 4,000.

“The cost to build a Habitat House in Joplin is approximately $45,000 and today there are over a thousand families that need a place to live. Sadly, there is not enough funding to help everyone in need,” Jane Cage, COO, Heartland Technology Solutions, said in a media statement. Cage is also Chairman of Joplin’s Citizens Advisory Recovery Team.

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GFI Software informed SMB Nation today that it has released GFI MailArchiver – an easy and affordable way for SMBs to generate real, actionable data to improve operations, enhance productivity and better support customers.

Known as the company’s email archiving solution, GFI MailArchiver now includes MailInsights, a data analysis tool that enables SMBs to maximize the wealth of information contained within their email. SMBs can use GFI MailArchiver to analyze how quickly a sales or customer service team is responding to customer emails; spot trends such as common keywords or topics in emails being sent and received; identify which employees or types of email attachments are consuming the most storage space; learn exactly who their employees are emailing the most; and to defend against the disclosure of proprietary and confidential information.

“Almost every SMB uses email, and the wealth of data that GFI MailArchiver can generate from an email archive can provide profound insights into any business or organization,” Phil Bousfield, general manager, Infrastructure Business Unit, GFI Software, said in a media statement. “Small businesses not taking advantage of that existing resource—which they create and build upon every day—are missing a significant opportunity to generate their own business intelligence to better understand their operations.”

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Brocade today introduced several new channel initiatives today designed to embody a “Quality in Partnership” philosophy designed to drive partner success, enablement and profitability. The updates made to the company’s Alliance Partner Network (APN) program include elements tailored to attract new partners who are looking for a vendor alternative, as well as new aspects to better reward existing APN partners.

As the channel remains an area of strategic focus for Brocade, the company has invested significant monetary resources – approximately three times the historical annual spend – to implement and support the APN program. Specifically, Brocade announced today:

·    Enablement funding for new partners to accelerate engagement with Brocade
·    Expansion of the reseller Value Incentive Program (VIP)
·    Updated deal registration discounts to further protect presales investments
·    Enhanced enablement tools
·    Renewed focus on lead and demand generation activities

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D&H Distributing has been “Business of the Year” by the Central Penn Business Journal, a business publication in the central Pennsylvania region. The distributor was honored for its role as a flourishing Central PA employer and industry leader in the category of 101 or more employees. 

Organizations  in this competition were required to be privately-held, for-profit businesses headquartered in Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry or York county, or to conduct significant operations in these areas. Winners would be established as “a leader, substantial player or recognized innovator within its industry,” demonstrating significant revenue growth, and “committed to the growth and development of its employees and community.” 

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By Regina Ciardiello, Editor, SMB Nation

Image: Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the busy week prior.

Here at SMB Nation, we have been busy preparing for the 2012 events season, as well as our editorial strategy for both SMB Nation and Cloud Nation…It is hard to believe that our last issue of 2011 is available…what an exciting and crazy year it has been for both myself and the “New SMB Nation,” or “SMB Nation 2.0” as I like to say! To download the November/December issue, go to: http://www.smbnation.com/Publications/Magazine/tabid/72/Default.aspx.

Also, stay tuned for additional information on what’s in store for our next live event, MVP Nation, to be held March 2-3, 2012, in Redmond, WA. For more information, and to register, go to: http://www.regonline.com/mvpnation2012.

Once again, here are a few snippets of information that we didn’t get a chance to bring you last week. Let us also know if there was something we might have missed, which is not mentioned in this entry…because as you know…we love news!

[Read the rest of this article...]

D&H Distributing delivered a sneak preview last week of five different models of the new “Ultrabook” format.  On-hand at the distributor’s Mid-Atlantic Fall 2011 Technology show last week were slim, light yet high-performance notebooks—some not even available to ship yet.

Harrybbb was also on-hand at the event to check out the Ultrabooks preview himself. For more information, click here to see his full round-up of last week’s D&H event.

The new units from manufacturers, such as Lenovo, ASUS, Acer and Toshiba were available for VAR attendees to test and rank at the show, via the distributor’s “Ultra Demo Zone.” Similar to the Tablet Demo Zone that was conducted at D&H’s Boston Show this summer, attendees then were asked to rank the units according to which was Most Stylish, Most Innovative, Most Versatile and Most User-Friendly.  

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D&H Distributing said today that is will once again serve as a sponsor of Everything Channel’s COMDEX Virtual Expo. The Harrisburg, Pa.-based distributor is also the exclusive sponsor of the COMDEX 2011 “Bus” interface.  The Bus is one of the first venues that attendees enter to virtually “shuttle” between destinations during the two-day event. 

Note that SMB Nation’s Harrybbb will be making a virtual appearance as both a passenger on the COMDEX bus and within the booth; stop by and visit the Harrybbb Vavatar!

During COMDEX, D&H plans to offer content from a multitude of its vendor partners in an extensive booth presence, emphasizing two main areas:  Infrastructure Solutions and Mobility/Office Solutions. 

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