5 years ago: HP and BT want SMEs to go online

20.09.99: HP and BT launch a joint effort aimed at getting small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) online.

The package offering - including HP's Brio PC, BT's free internet access and website-hosting and design tools - starts at £529 or £18 a month.

Jean-Jacques Ozil, Brio programme worldwide marketing manager at HP's business desktop division, said: "For SMEs the most important feature is price. These people are cash-strapped and many do not have IT departments and are not IT literate. Instead they spend their time managing the business not IT. They do not burn the midnight oil learning technology - they want a simple solution."

20.09.04: The more things change the more they stay the same.

Though getting online is now considered passe, tech businesses are still keen on finding ways to get SMEs to open their chequebooks.

The areas they're keen to spend on include security, networks and web hosting, according to recent research.

SMEs are also becoming more tech-savvy as a recent survey showed 64 per cent of respondent have heard of open source and 77 per cent of those claim to understand its benefits.