ConnectWise and other Microsoft solution providers have reported brisk sales of SBS 2003 Standard Edition, which launched in October at a significant price break at $599. Microsoft claims to have enjoyed a 170 percent increase in overall sales of SBS 2003 during the product's first six months on the market compared to the six months following the release of SBS 2000.
Still, partners say they are seeing fewer deals on the Premium Edition, which shipped shortly after the Standard Edition and had a price tag of $1,499. It includes SQL Server 2000 and ISA 2000 as well as Windows 2003, SharePoint Services and Exchange 2003. Premium buyers are eligible for the free BizTalk 2004 Partner Edition.
Some consultants see a potential services opportunity for sophisticated small businesses that need EDI capabilities, while other solution providers say the need for BizTalk in the SMB space has not yet arrived.
"I haven't seen the need for BizTalk Partner edition from the very beginning," said Michael Cocanower, president of ITSynergy, Phoenix. "You might have a small business working with a Fortune 500 and that Fortune 500 company has an extensive BizTalk implementation and they want the small biz to integrate. The Partner Edition enables the small business to do that financially, where they couldn't before. It sounds good to me, but I just haven't run into that scenario in the real world yet."
This story appears courtesy of CRN.
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