IBM unveils new Smart Cube appliance preloaded with Intuit QuickBooks

IBM has pulled the wraps off its Smart Business initiative, which is part of IBM's ongoing effort to capture a larger share of the small and medium business space. This is important because worldwide IT spending by small and medium businesses is expected to reach $674.4 billion in 2013, according to IDC. With Smart Business, IBM envisions as a new way for businesses to acquire, use and manage technology.

The new IT delivery model centers on the use of an appliance called a "Smart Cube." The Smart Cube is a secure, automated appliance designed to deliver integrated business applications directly to the client. According to IBM, it takes just four easy steps to get one up and running.

Since the Smart Cube appliance is sold with hardware, software as well as technical support, clients will no longer require manuals or CD media to install and configure their applications--relying instead on IBM as a single point of technical support. In the same vein as the iPhone App Store, IBM also rolled out the Smart Market, a web-enabled, one-stop marketplace that clients can use to browse and download applications for the Smart Cube.

One such offering would be Intuit's accounting software. In a first time agreement between IBM and Intuit, a Smart Cube appliance with Intuit's QuickBooks Enterprise accounting software pre-integrated. The combined IBM and Intuit appliance is available from select IBM, Intuit Business Partners starting at $7,745.

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