"We're putting TPM [Trusted Platform Module] chips on these motherboards," offers Ragones as one example, "and TPM is a hardware-based security technology that interfaces with Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows in this generation, and with Vista there's going to be just that much more security built in. When that comes out, there's going to be a secure start-up technology that will leverage the TPM chip to provide that extra level of security to the small and medium business owner."

The Affordable Workgroup Workhorse The new 4730 mfp from HP is a dream come true for workstation managers. Not only do you get unprecedented laser color photo quality but 30 ppm black/color speeds and powerful digital sending capabilities[em]for only half of the competition's price.

Any vendor that takes proven, widely desired business functionality and finds a way to drop the price substantially without sacrificing quality has a winner on its hands. One of the best examples we've seen of this is HP's new 4730 mfp. "This is an effort on HP's part," says Jim Montgomery, North American product manager for HP, "to take a lot of the functionality that has been...I don't want to say too expensive for small businesses but really has been somewhat prohibitively expensive and boil it down into a product that fits their needs and will basically do everything that a product twice its price used to do."

If you're more used to dealing with consumers than businesses, you're likely used to an MFP (multi-function printer) meaning something like HP's 7410 xi, a network-enabled all-in-one inkjet color printer/copier/scanner/fax you can snag in Costco for $420. That's a single-user consumer desktop device. The 4730 looks more like an office copier machine, which is actually part of the market HP is gunning for. The unit stands three and a half feet tall, sports three paper bins near the floor plus a fourth higher up, yielding a 1,600-sheet total capacity. Duplex printing, three CompactFlash slots, and 320MB of memory are standard, and the unit can connect via parallel, USB 2.0, and Jetdirect Fast Ethernet. Copy speeds for both black and color laser are 30 pages per minute.

New Ways To Talk D-Link's DVG-3004S SIP Analog Trunk Gateway bridges analog phone lines with IP networks, allowing customers to use current phone equipment yet realize next-gen VoIP benefits, including the cost benefits of Internet Telephony Service Providers, while still having traditional services, such as emergency 911 calling.

Pretty basic stuff so far, yes? What makes devices like the 4730 worth their $10,000 price tags is digital sending functionality. With digital sending, you can scan hard copy documents at the device and send them to various repositories. You might scan a report page and email it to someone. Or you can send it to a shared network folder that a workgroup might be utilizing. Users within a finance group might have a folder on NAS box A while the marketing people have a folder on NAS box B. This hinges on locking the device down using LDAP authentication, which will prompt each new user for a username and password prior to allowing him or her to send an email or send to a shared network folder. This is a strong selling point for companies that don't want internal documentation easily beamed to the outside world.

In short, MFPs are no longer just about printing. They're about document management. The incredible thing is that the entry-level 4730 is only $4,999.

"There are a couple of points with the 4730 that I think are going to be key to the small business customer," says Montgomery. "One is that the price is relatively inexpensive compared to the competition. On average, we're at least half the cost of a competitive device from a hardware perspective. We also have the exact same mono toner costs on this device as we do on our comparable 4345 monochrome model. That's important because in the past, when people would consider color MFPs, not only did they have to worry about the cost of people copying and printing in color but they also had to worry that even if they were printing black and white documents, it was still costing more than a comparable monochrome device. The reason ours is identical in mono cost to the 4345 is that you're only using the black toner. With other models, there's still involvement with the color cartridges."

Specifically, consumable costs for the 4730 are 1.1 cents per page in mono and 8.5 cents per page in color. Tied to the 4730 is HP's new ColorSphere toner line, which features a 22% wider color gamut than its predecessor and superior bonding properties for both better precision as well as faster printing. Print samples from the 4730 are among the most striking we've ever seen from a laser unit. ColorSphere toner works on all HP MFP units from the 2600 through the 4730, and from a revenue stream perspective, you want to clearly educate and demonstrate clients on the benefits of ColorSphere over alternative toners, especially remanufactured ones. The difference in quality is obvious, and not only do you want to avoid your client shopping elsewhere for consumables but you want to ensure that he continues having the same high-quality experience with the device you originally sold him on.

Speak Softly, Carry a Big Footprint The D-Link DVX-1000 is another hot VoIP play for small businesses. This SIP-based IP-PBX with conferencing server supports up to 25 extensions, and users can be located anywhere on the planet with Internet access. Integrated conferencing functionality makes this a serious small biz value solution.

"We're trying to have customers bring their printing back in-house," says Brett Smith, technical program manager in HP LaserJet supplies. "Do it yourself. And we're trying to promote do-it-yourself marketing for this and some other products we just introduced. Because of the quality of the output, we feel we have a great tool that customers can use to bring things in-house and not spend a lot of money to outsource their marketing materials, whether that's an internal piece or something external they'd like to show off. After all, this is getting very close to offset printing. You know what color does. With great color output, a small business can make itself look bigger and better than the competition."

There are four models in the 4730 family. The base model lacks fax capability while the 4730x ($5,199) adds it. The 4730xs ($5,999) adds on a stapler/stacker whereas the 4730xm ($5,899) opts for a multi-bin mailbox.

Collaboration Made Easy Microsoft's SharePoint Portal Server 2003 lets organizations quickly build an internal portal for bringing users and groups together across various places and systems. This way, a search can span the entire organization, not just a local system, and efficiency balloons accordingly.

We found the 4730 story to be extremely persuasive from all sides. Even on the back end, HP makes the unit available for any partner reseller to sell. Look into the copier business and you'll likely find yourself iced out. HP offers a $200 SPIFF, has a 60-day demo program, and even has a buy three get one free deal. According to Montgomery, resellers should expect to make 10% to 15% on the hardware alone, then add on higher margin consumables and services.

"We're seeing a lot of resellers get into the whole solution play," says Montgomery. "WebJet Admin is sort of our enterprise admin tool. It's like taking the embedded Web server in the printer and applying it across all HP devices. A lot of resellers are getting good at providing services with that product. It's free for customers, but there's a lot of money to be made in planning and setting up environments.

In addition, we also have optional software called DSS 4.0 and another one called HP AutoStore. Both of those allow you to go beyond sending to network folders. You can send a LAN fax. You can do optical character recognition. With HP AutoStore, you can actually integrate with content management applications like Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server or EMC Documentum. The resellers who are having success are the ones getting involved in a total package solution for customers where they're taking our hardware and putting it with other software for a full solution."

The list of products that fall into the "quantum leap in price vs. functionality" category are only going to get more numerous going forward. Another hot example is D-Link's DVX-1000 SIP IP PBX with Conferencing Bridge. Going into 2006, we'll be doing more coverage of the Voice-over-IP (VoIP) space, but suffice it to say for now that the DVX-1000 delivers call routing over IP telephony services rather than traditional (and traditionally expensive) POTS rivals, an internal conferencing bridge, and compatibility with SIP-based IP phones or softphones running on a computer (think Skype). All this comes with the usual bevy of features—Caller ID, call waiting, voicemail, hold music, etc.—that businesses need, plus new functionality you can only get with an IP-based system.

Why is this a must-sell to small businesses? Because D-Link is providing the same feature set and performance as its competitors for 20% to 50% less. Additionally, D-Link partners receive another 5% or 10% on the back end, depending on their partnership level, plus an extra 5% quarterly rebate.

The #1 Small Biz Sale

In targeting small businesses, we need to keep in mind that hardware is actually the secondary play. In this context, the true foundation of a small business's IT infrastructure is the network and the integrated applications that run on top of it—essentially the operating system and its attendant services. We like Linux, and companies such as Novell and Red Hat have a tremendous amount to offer the channel. However, we like Linux primarily as a medium-business or secondary desktop PC choice. When it comes to providing a small business with an easy-to-manage, scalable system, nothing beats Microsoft's Small Business Server 2003.

Want the Best? Go SBS. You could literally build an entire VAR operation solely on deploying and upselling Microsoft's Small Business Server suite. You'll find the 2003 version is much easier to install than its predecessor, and there are many more opportunities for resellers to supply setup and management services through the server platform.

In short, SBS 2003 is Microsoft's fourth-generation suite of server applications designed primarily to handle networking, communications, and Internet needs. The Standard version of the suite ($599) includes Windows Server 2003 OS bundled with Exchange Server 2003 for messaging and SharePoint Services for collaboration and intranet capabilities. The Premium version ($1,499) adds ISA Server 2000, SQL Server 2000, and FrontPage 2003.

Between the 2000 and 2003 SBS versions, Microsoft added Remote Web Workplace. This allows customers to access all of their business information—email contacts, business applications, even their SharePoint services—from any Internet-enabled PC. SharePoint is a whole new set of functionality incorporated into SBS2003. Essentially, SharePoint gives the small business owner an internal Web site out of the box he can use for collaboration and idea sharing from a central location. This is a hot ticket for increasing office productivity. People typically save files on their desktop, in their email, or wherever. Most small businesses don't dictate procedures for such things. SharePoint allows businesses to centralize and share all of their data whether on-site or off. This is a huge draw for any company with mobile workers, and tied to it are the remote administration features which allow you, the reseller, to function as an outsourced IT department, able to manage and troubleshoot a client's network remotely.

Ironically, in the transition from SBS 2000 to 2003, some resellers objected that the streamlined installation involved with the new version took valuable service revenue away because they were billing fewer hours. If this is you, you're missing the point. There is so much more functionality you can set up in 2003 following the initial installation. If you're not explaining and demonstrating these to your clients, you're missing out on some tremendous opportunities.

"Good resellers don't just install the server and run per se," says Elyn Yao, senior product manager for Microsoft. "The installation is just the start. Depending on the business, of course, the role of the partner is to install the server and then plant as many seeds as they can, because then they can actually build ongoing revenue streams by managing that system. In most cases, small businesses won't have server expertise, and they'll rely solely on that partner. They can build a revenue stream just through the management of that system, and because of the remote management tools they can do this very efficiently. It's a win-win on both sides. And as that small business grows, SBS is robust enough to add the services they're going to need.

IDC projects that small business server adoption is growing at roughly 10% annually. In a time when small offices are still running peer-to-peer networks or deployments no different than what you'd find in a $200 home LAN, the chances to step in and educate customers on the value of a platform such as SBS 2003 are immense. All you need is the right tools. Fortunately, Microsoft makes plenty of these available through its Partner Program—the Action Pack and Small Business Center site in particular.

"If you think about SBS as a core platform," says Elyn Yao, senior product manager for Microsoft, "the partner can serve as the IT provider and consultant and pull through additional small business products, because certainly you can't deploy a server without touching the clients. That represents opportunities to upgrade customers to Windows XP Pro, to sell Office Small Business Edition or Office Professional, and to bring in CRM technologies and Windows Mobile. It's a very robust platform to build on."

Once you've made the SBS 2003 hit, it becomes much easier to swing in behind with more business-oriented solutions. Last month, Chris Angelini spotlighted ERP and accounting packages, and Microsoft has its own Small Business Accounting if you want to keep everything under one roof. The opportunities are practically limitless.

And that pretty much goes for the small business space as a whole. There is strength—and profit—in numbers. Small businesses are everywhere. With the tools we've covered here and many more we'll be exploring throughout 2006, you have the ability to find new small business accounts and mine the ones you currently have for more revenue. This isn't exploiting. If you understand the technologies and know true value-add products when you see them, then you'll be helping to elevate your clients and make them more profitable.