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For small and medium businesses (SMBs) considering Software as a Service (SaaS) e-mail options, there’s a lot of information to wade through, but not a lot of useful guidance on how to choose the service that will provide the best business value for their SaaS e-mail investment.

Collaborative Strategy Guild has published a new whitepaper, Gauging the Real Value of Software as a Service (SaaS) E-mail for Small and Medium Businesses, the first in a series of reports designed to help SMBs sort through the hype and make solid, well-informed decisions about their e-mail investments.

According to the report, “Competition for the SaaS e-mail market is currently being waged over cost; however, price alone does not always equal value. E-mail clients and services can either foster or hinder productivity, and in varying degrees. Although price is an important determining factor for choosing a SaaS e-mail provider, the combination of cost savings plus productivity gains defines the real value of e-mail to an organization.” 

The report goes on to discuss how e-mail can support business processes and user productivity. It provides an overview of the market and vendors and offers an “E-mail Productivity Framework” to help IT decision-makers in SMBs evaluate their e-mail investment by examining their organizations’ needs.

This report is a great resource for SMBs and anyone evaluating SaaS e-mail.

SAN JOSE, Calif. and ZUG, Switzerland – July 31, 2009 – Cisco and Landis+Gyr today announced that they will work together on a holistic approach to smart grid communications infrastructure that is expected to  help utility companies and their customers better manage  energy. The collaboration between Cisco and Landis+Gyr is expected to accelerate the delivery of standards- …

It has now been over a year since the devastating 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck China’s Sichuan Province leaving more than 70,000 people dead or missing, more than 300,000 injured, and millions without shelter.  Soon after the disaster, Cisco offered its support to the Sichuan Provincial government and launched “Connecting Sichuan”—a three-year public-private partnership to aid the rebuilding effort, with a focus on improving healthcare and education in earthquake-damaged areas. (Read the Connecting Sichuan year one report) (pdf document)

Consider the experience of Ma Yuanjiang who lost his left hand and suffered other trauma while trapped in earthquake wreckage for 179 hours. He is learning to use an artificial hand and during a trial run of a Cisco HealthPresence environment in the Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital in Chengdu, Mr. Ma conferred with health experts in Hong Kong using a high-resolution video and audio connection.

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 29, 2009 – Cisco today announced it has teamed with Cox Communications to deploy the Cox DOCSIS® 3.0-based “Ultimate Internet” service, with up to 50 megabits per second downstream, to its customers in Rhode Island. DOCSIS 3.0 service offers Cox residential customers faster online access for music and movie downloads, file transfers, video streaming, …

July 28, 2009 The CN Investment Division (the Division) manages the assets of multi-billion-dollar pension fund of the Canadian National Railway Company’s (CN) 63,000 employees and pensioners. Assets under the group’s management include domestic and foreign equities, fixed income, real estate, oil and gas, hedge funds and private equities. CN is the only railroad which crosses the …

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 28, 2009 – The International Science and Engineering Fair 2010 Association, Inc, which is dedicated to the advancement of science and engineering education among future leaders, today announced that Cisco will serve as the Communications Technology Sponsor of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) when it returns to San Jose in 2010.  As part of the sponsorship, Cisco will illustrate how technology-enabled communication can play a key …

TORONTO – July 28, 2009 – Cisco, a major supporter of Skills/Compétences Canada, is pleased to congratulate the winners of the 15th annual Canadian Skills Competition. Five of the six medalists in this year’s IT and Network Support contest are Cisco® Networking Academy® students. Cisco Networking Academy The <a href=”http://www.cisco.com/ …

Photo Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes (left) and Rio de Janeiro Gov. Sergio Cabral at the Orla Digital opening </ …

Photo MDS 9000 Family – 9506, 9513, 9509 Multilayer Directors and 9216 Multilayer Fabric Switch. SAN …

ABCNews.com columnist Michael Malone offers a very interesting profile on our Chairman and CEO John Chambers this weekend’s Wall Street Journal.

“Even in this downturn,” says chairman and CEO John Chambers, sitting at the table in his modest, memento-crammed office, “We intend to be the most aggressive we’ve ever been.”

Malone writes about Chambers early career at IBM and Wang Laboratories prior to joining Cisco, as well as his upbringing as an outdoorsman growing up in West Virginia.  As I’ve personally learned from being around Chambers for the past decade and what this article reminded me of: what you see is what you get.  He is truly one of the good guys and no one I know works harder.

My favorite part:

Mr. Chambers credits his parents (both doctors) with giving him a doctor’s approach to business problems. “They taught me to focus on the long-term health of the patient, and not to treat symptoms but the underlying problem.”