With the exception of the June launch of the iPhone, it's been a typical summer in technology - dead! Like most businesses (and academia... and network television... and the NFL), Fall is when things start cooking. Over the next week or so, I'll try to roundup product launches of interest for smaller businesses to watch for between now and the end of the year.

Today, let's start with Microsoft

Office Communications Server launches October 16th. It includes VOIP, instant messaging and audio/video conferencing all bundled into the Office Communicator client.

PerformancePoint Server 2007 launches September 19th. It features a palette of business intelligence tools (BI) to streamline employee work flow throughout the business, as well as provide analytics, accountability and security. It's priced for small to midsize businesses.