2001
- Microsoft acquires SME business software supplier Great Plains.
2002 - SAP acquires TopManage Software Solutions for its SME offering.
2002 - Storage heavyweight EMC announces its intention to go after smaller businesses with special storage solutions designed for their more limited needs.
2002 - Microsoft purchases Navision to help achieve its aim of selling small and mid-size companies low-cost, ready-to-assemble ERP, supply-chain, financial and other business applications.
2003 - SAP All-in-One, SAP's business software for SMEs, is introduced.
2003 - HP introduces its Smart Office initiative, marketing special storage solutions to smaller businesses with what it says are some of the most affordable network storage products on the market.
2003 - Microsoft aims to boost sales of its products from all seven divisions to small and medium businesses with 1 000 or fewer employees. Microsoft starts developing SME products in earnest and begins pushing its CRM solution for SMEs.
2004 - IBM releases TotalStorage N3700, a 14-disk NAS array that utilises iSCSI technology. Although IBM markets the N3700 as an affordable option for businesses with less than 1 000 employees, the starting price is still out of reach for those on the smaller end of the spectrum.
2004 - HP releases StorageWorks 1510i modular storage array, an iSCSI-compatible array of HP's Smart Office initiative geared at SMEs.
2004 - Magic Software Enterprises, as part of its relationship with SAP, develops a customised version of its iBolt Integration Suite for SAP, which complements SAP's existing arsenal of development tools for SAP Business One.
2004 - HP announces the Storage Works Data Protector Express, a backup and recovery software suite designed to work with Windows, Linux or NetWare servers, covering up to 20 servers and offering HP's bare-metal One Button Disaster Recovery feature.
2004 - HP announces the European SME vendor forum, whose members join to deliver online resources to small and medium enterprises in Europe.
2005 - An enhancement to SAP PartnerEdge is introduced, addressing key issues for channel partners to support small and mid-size customers.
2005 - Microsoft renews its efforts to target SMEs with a specially tailored package of server software, codenamed Centro.
2005 - Oracle announces new customers and partnerships in the mid-market business applications space.
2006 - SAP unifies its various partner activities into a single programme intended to make SAP the partner of choice in the business software marketplace.
2007 - HP introduces an all-in-one storage system for the small business market to help customers lower the cost and complexity of data storage environments.
2007 - IBM adds features and capacity to its SME storage products to match those of more expensive enterprise-level systems. IBM expects its SME operation to become the vendor's biggest industry focus within a couple of years.
2007 - Novell introduces the first workgroup suite for small businesses, which provides organisations with a solution based on proven, open standards-based software. Novell releases its first desktop-and-server suite for small businesses.
Sources:The History and Development of the Internet: a Timeline, Rhonda Davila. A Brief History of the Internet, Barry M Leiner, Vinton G Cerf, David D Clark, Robert E Kahn, Leonard Kleinrock, Daniel C Lynch, Jon Postel, Larry G Roberts, Stephen Wolff. Wikipedia. Keith Lynch's timeline of Net-related terms and concepts. Computer History. Hobbes' Internet Timeline. A history of the computer.
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