Comcast, Microsoft Team on SMB Services

Comcast said Wednesday that it had teamed with Microsoft to offer its small and medium-sized business customers new Internet-based communications services built on the Redmond company's productivity platform.

The services include the same Microsoft Communication Services that are now mostly used by larger companies with dedicated IT staffs. Now SMBs can utilize the same e-mail, calendaring, and document sharing.

Since it is internet-based, the applications reside on Comcast's servers. The "IT help desk" are the ISP's own dedicated business support lines for its business customers. Current business customers can use the new functionality at no additional cost, it said.

"Many of our small-business customers use stand-alone Microsoft products on their own PCs, which benefits individual employees," Comcast Business Services president Bill Stemper said in a statement. "Now, as part of their Comcast high-speed Internet service, they can quickly schedule meetings, share a common address book, or easily share or review important documents, which benefits the entire business."

Pushing out corporate services beyond its typical larger-sized customers is important for Microsoft. For many SMBs, the costs of running productivity systems based on Microsoft's Exchange Server and related products is way too high. Thus, these customers may opt for its competitors, who are often cheaper.

Additionally, Microsoft has begun to put less of a focus on its software and more into the Web, so offering Outlook's services over the web is a logical step. It's not all that new either -- Web Outlook access has been available to those with installations of Exchange for years now.

The Philadelphia-based company's new service could potentially be a big draw -- Comcast estimates there are some five million SMBs with less than 20 employees within its current footprint.