IBM adds middleware templates for SMBs.

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) has made available a handful of new enablement templates and some midyear metrics to bolster its Small and Medium Business (SMBs) Advantage program for partners that develop software for SMBs. The six new Solution Builder Express Portfolio templates, or Starting Points, are designed to help partners figure out how to configure their software and services to fit with IBM's WebSphere middleware offerings. The six Starting Points unveiled last week add to the Armonk, New York-based vendor's current 12 Starting Points. IBM announced its SMB Business Advantage program in January as a sort of onestop technical support and networking arena for IBM's SMB software partners. The Express templates have helped Kevin Jinx, senior vice president of sales and recruiting at Dynax Solutions Inc., better sell his company's IT services. The company said it acquired 10,000 new SMB customers in the first half of this year, twice as many as it did in the same period last year and more than it garnered for the entire year. Of those new SMB customers, about 25 percent are Express middleware users.