The channel is not expecting a rush of corporate interest following last week's launch of the Microsoft Office 2003 suite.

Although the launch is vital for Microsoft, as Office sales account for over a quarter of the company's revenue, resellers do not believe there will be a spike in initial upgrade interest.

The new suite includes upgrades to the existing applications and new extensible mark-up language applications based around information sharing and collaborative working.

John Taylor, marketing director at VAR Trustmarque, said: "Some large companies may decide to upgrade immediately, but in general we'll see a slow but steady rise in companies making the switch.

"The product has improved, but I'm not sure if it's improved enough to be an essential upgrade."

Angela Ashenden, senior analyst at Ovum, said the tight integration of the product would benefit resellers.

"This tight integration makes a lot of sense for Microsoft, but to get the benefits users should have the latest upgrades to get full functionality," she said.

iain_thompson@vnu.co.uk