ANTenna Blog -- Business & E-Business

There was lots and lots of focus on larger enterprises at Interop, but, if you looked for it, you could find that many tech companies are thinking more and more about the smaller business.

For instance, eTelemetry's original network monitoring tool is aimed at users with 500 users on up and provides businesses with the ability to do things like detect misconfigured PCs, monitor Internet activity, and bandwidth use. It's launching its newest device, the Metron 2.0 this summer and is coming out with a less expensive box aimed at smaller businesses -- 100 to 200 employees. "These guys have the same problems as the big guys but fewer resources to deal with it," company CEO Ermis Sfakiyanudis told me.

He said the smaller business market is a new focus for eTelemetry that was initiated after the company got a lot of calls from smaller businesses that wanted the functionality of eTelemetry's device but couldn't afford its price tag (Currently, larger businesses are paying upwards of $15K for eTelemetry's products. Sfakiyanudis said the company has not yet priced its SMB device.)

Lenovo is also thinking small -- or at least smaller. The company just announced that it is partnering with LanDesk to have its technology as the core of Lenovo's new ThinkManagement Console. The new console provides inventory and reporting features and management of Intel vPro enabled devices.

The smaller business focus here, according to Stephen Balog, Lenovo's marketing program director, is in the cost saving and in the capabilities. The LAN desk implementation, which can be used for five systems on up, requires no additional hardware, the software is easy to implement, and is scalable. "The console is developed and can grow from 50 to 500 to 1,000 users," he said and added that Lenovo "is trying to address the point of vulnerability from the SMB to the enterprise. There's applicability to both ends of the spectrum."

All Lenovo notebook and desktop PC products manufactured since January 2002 can get the ThinkManagement Console for free. Availability is going to start within the next two months.

Of course it depends on a smaller business' focus -- and the depth of its pockets. Atul Bhatnager, CEO of Ixia, initially noted that the way its network testing tools helps smaller businesses by helping their service providers – a circuitous route at best. But for the smaller business whose existence depends upon customer responsiveness -- a small call center is one example -- he noted that the need to constantly test its infrastructure is critical. Bhatnager insists that that is where smaller businesses will look to his product. "How critical is your front office? If so, you want to invest in testing." He added: "The formula is simple. Where you have a business driven by customer responsibility ands the lack of communication quality can hurt you, that's when it makes sense."

But while the formula might be simple, it doesn't come cheap. The software PCs and probes come in just under $30K a year.