BlueTie Launches Smartbins: Channel-Focused SharePoint Rival
Apparently, the channel has another value-added service to lay on top of mailboxes. Specifically, BlueTie has launched Smartbins, a cloud-delivered Microsoft SharePoint competitor that boasts 50% margins and complete white-labeling for resellers, the company claims. Here’s how Smartbins fits into BlueTie’s partner program.
BlueTie is traditionally a messaging solution vendor, competing with Microsoft Exchange by way of its home-brewed e-mail platform. But when BlueTie acquired the Wonderfile web-sharing application in September 2010, we knew BlueTie had more collaboration tricks up their sleeve.
Enter Smartbins. The goal of the Smartbins offering, according to BlueTie’s press release, is to improve both workflow efficiency and security by organizing and backing up important documents. Tag files by subject matter and access them by content heading — a system that BlueTie says works much better than the traditional folder hierarchy. And files can be shared with anyone, not just Smartbins users.
Smartbins is included in BlueTie’s reseller program, which distinguishes itself by giving basic mailboxes away to partners for free. And the new product is backed by BlueTie’s 100% service level agreement.
No one’s ready to read Microsoft SharePoint its last rites just yet. SharePoint certainly remains wildly popular with many VARs and MSPs. Plus, SharePoint Online could get a cloud boost when Microsoft Office 365 arrives sometime in 2011. But companies like BlueTie are leveraging the cloud in ways that mean Microsoft is facing stiff competition.
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