Cisco has unveiled a $100m investment in the SME space in what has to date been a largely untapped market for the networking giant.

According to Cisco, the sweet-spot of the SME market is the ‘S’ part of the SME – which it classes as firms with 100 employees or fewer. It claims partners could grab a slice of a market set to be worth $10bn in 2009.

The vendor has set up a focused Small Business Technology Group (SBTG) which will work to developed tailored SME technologies focused on six key areas: connectivity, security, remote access, productivity, customer interaction and customer support.

It has also developed a dedicated small business support centre and a bespoke small business web site that can put smaller firms directly in touch with local partners.

Cisco’s new team is gearing up to launch a raft of new products – the first of which will be available next month, including a desktop storage product, a video surveillance device and a wireless IP phone that looks like a traditional desktop phone.

Andrew Sage, vice president of worldwide SMB at Cisco said: “Technology is really changing the way these companies work. SMBs always see the glass half full and recognise any changes in the economy two quarters in advance. However, they also recover two quarters before anyone else.

“Our commitment to this space is significant in terms of product, sales, services and marketing. We need solutions that have been built for small businesses and need to think about what they need and also what they need to do with it.”

Sage added that the buying experience should be simple because most of the customers will “do a lot of research” before buying.

In addition, the vendor has formed a small business council to oversee the market. This will be co-led by Sue Bostrom, chief marketing office, Keith Goodwin, senior vice president of worldwide channels, and Ian Pennell, senior vice president of the small business technology group.