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Broadview Networks announced the availability of Cloud Computing Services, a suite of business software and infrastructure applications hosted in the cloud and tailored for small and midsize businesses. Broadview’s cloud-based services target the growing market for software as a service and infrastructure as a service. Both SAAS and IAAS allow companies to move software, applications, storage and server hardware that support critical business operations off-site.
The Cloud Computing Services platform expands the company’s portfolio of cloud offerings to include individual and bundled packages of subscription-based software and infrastructure services. Businesses will be able to access not only the most common productivity software, including hosted versions of Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint and other Microsoft products over the Internet, but also hundreds of other business applications. For mobile and remote workers, Broadview provides packages that incorporate a set of mobility and teleworker features.
The company’s cloud-based infrastructure offering includes a suite of back-up tools for desktop and server data for disaster avoidance and rapid recovery. Both virtualized and dedicated server solutions are available and capable of supporting most business applications. Broadview said it would deliver these infrastructure services in either a traditional client/server configuration or a virtualized environment. “Virtualized solutions offer unique advantages to customers in a broad range of business verticals, including those in health care and financial services, ensuring that these companies meet their strict security, compliance and administrative requirements,” said a company statement.
IDC forecasts indicate that SAAS will be a $56 billion industry globally by 2014, with the majority of this revenue coming from North America. Moreover, IDC estimates that, in the SMB segment, less than 10 percent of small businesses were using cloud-based software or infrastructure services in 2010, with the potential for significant growth in this market in the next five years.
“We are confident that cloud-based services will deliver unparalleled benefits to our customers. They will have the benefit of the most advanced technologies, highly reliable and available networks and scalability on demand. In addition, our cloud services will enable secure access to applications, solid disaster-recovery capabilities and vastly improved economics,” said Brian Crotty, chief operating officer at Broadview Networks. “By moving communications, software and infrastructure services to a cloud environment, SMBs can keep the focus on running their business without having to invest scarce capital in IT, telecom, additional technical personnel and back-office operations.”