In fact, with the set of Internet-based services reunited under the Office Live umbrella, Microsoft aims to enable company partners and solution developers to tap approximately 20 million small-businesses in the United States, as Office Live has debuted as yet exclusively in the US. Microsoft feels comfortable promising Office Live users the opening of a channel to a rich new revenue stream as the beta phase of the service has enjoyed a decent amount of success.

"After a successful beta period when we had more than 160,000 customers in the United States as well as more than 75 partners piloting our solution developer program, we want to expand the opportunity to all solution developers that are today targeting small and home-based businesses," said Rajesh Jha, corporate vice president, Microsoft Office Live. "Our goal is to offer developers the opportunity to build customized solutions on top of Office Live to address the specific needs of the hundreds of millions of small businesses out there."

According to the Redmond Company, small and home-based businesses are the most underserved segment of the IT market, and Microsoft is additionally planning to scale Office Live worldwide announcing that Office Live Beta is scheduled to debut in France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom on Nov. 21, 2006.