SMB Market

Treasurer Wayne Swan's sixth budget may well be his last. But it certainly had some highlights although most analysts agree that it didn't offer a great deal to Australian economy. The following stories offer a broad-based, ICT-centric coverage of the budget.

Some of the initiatives announced in the 2013/14 Federal Budget have been met with mixed reactions by ICT industry experts.

This is the full transcript of the Treasurer, Wayne Swan's Federal Budget 2013/14 speech.

The Federal Budget has missed the opportunity to take the pressure off business, according to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).

Solutions and services provider, CSC has welcomed the Federal Government's Budget announcement regarding health and technology.

How to retain profitability within the channel is an issue vendors, distributors and resellers have to constantly stay focused on

Virtualisation is dominant in the enterprise market today, but how is it faring in the SMB space? ARN brought together a collection of channel players and vendors to discuss the opportunities and challenges for virtualisation technology in the smaller end of town.

ARN recently held a roundtable on selling virtualisation to SMBs. Attached are highlights from the recent event.

One highly-debated topic raised during the roundtable was whether resellers were investing in building managed and cloud services to meet increased customer demand.

One of the questions raised by Dell’s Jon McBride was how resellers were taking virtualisation in their customer base to the next level. While many clients claim to have deployed virtualisation extensively, a bit of digging shows many only have about 10 per cent of their environment on virtual technology.

IBM is 102 years old. At its height, it was almost a cult, with employees dressing alike, speaking a unique language and earning benefits that took care of them for life. Today's tech companies aren't built to last, as Apple's recent earnings report shows all too well.

Chances are you've heard about the Internet of Things (IoT)—or you will soon enough. The term carries a number of definitions. But in general, the IoT refers to uniquely identifiable objects, such as corporate assets or consumer goods, and their virtual representations in an Internet-like structure.

For one of the top women in IT, the path to success began, believe it or not, in an ice cream shop. According to Intel A/NZ general manager, Kate Burleigh, the path that led her to a technology role came about, in part, as result of her early days in retail - and a first-job encounter that was less than ideal.

Despite its name, the annual Consumer Electronics Show isn't wholly consumer tech. These seven announcements--covering data analytics, collaboration, RAM and more--may impact the systems and devices your employees use in 2013.

Technology trends can come and go with little more than a (Google) Wave, but seven trends of 2012 are here to stay. Some came out of nowhere, while others emerged after years of development.

D-Link A/NZ business sales and marketing manager, Ettore Alterisio, talks about the company’s increasing focus into the SMB space and the trends surrounding the current networking space.

Mobile security concerns about bring-your-own devices are overblown, says an IT security expert in this CIO.com Q&A.

Day two at Microsoft TechEd 2012 was all about Windows 8. CIO.com caught up with Windows corporate VP Antoine Leblond, who discussed why CIOs should test Windows 8, why developers should love it, and why we'll all be touching our laptop screens sooner than we think.

Hewlett-Packard has gone through a rough spell lately, what with weak PC sales, declining profits, an embarrassing CEO scandal involving sex harassment claims and dubious expense reports, and another CEO (Leo Apotheker) getting the boot after less than a year on the job.

InTechnology: The first of 10 interviews with channel-relevant technology companies that have achieved significant growth over the last three years

Until roughly six years ago, mobile computers and telephones were really separate things. "Mobile computing" meant laptops -- maybe with broadband wireless for some lucky executives. "Telephone" meant communication device. "Convergence" meant putting your cellphone into your computer bag to go through airport security.

With the increasing convenience and availability of mobile technology, small businesses are finding it easier to compete. The Small Business Mobility Report by CDW found that nearly all respondents -- 94% -- agreed that their use of mobile devices for work tasks has made them more efficient. This efficiency boost grants small businesses an opportunity to extend reach and increase productivity without emptying the piggy bank.

Data is more important to businesses today than it has ever been, doing everything from revealing trends in customer behavior to comparing sales performance across business units and regions. Comprehensive data collection provides the who, what, when and how associated with almost all organizational activity. This information is incredibly valuable to executives because it plays a critical role in strategic business decisions. As such, all businesses - big and small - must have a data backup strategy in place to protect against data loss.

As small businesses implement the latest technology to keep up with client demands, next-generation servers come to the forefront of the discussion. But what is a "next-gen" server exactly?

Shaw reviews Cisco's Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Router EA4500.

The next revision of Office adds touches of Metro without itself being a Metro app

While SQL Server 2008 was little more than a service-pack level upgrade, the 2012 version of Microsoft's database has a boatload of new features and delivers solid performance improvements.

Virtually all our testing took place across 512Kbps frame relay, T-1 and T-3 WAN links. The test bed network consisted of six Fast Ethernet subnet domains linked by Cisco routers. Our lab's 50 clients consisted of computing platforms that included Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/Win7, Macintosh 10.x and Red Hat Linux (both server and workstation editions).

Windows Server 2012 Release Preview features a better virtual desktop experience, much easier DirectAccess deployment and a full-scale file-classification and access control system.

Google launched the Chrome OS in late 2010 and has continued to update it despite lukewarm reception by the public toward the platform's model: a browser-centered OS running on a lightweight, minimally-spec'd notebook meant to be used with an always-on Internet connection.