The Meaning of SMB: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know the definition of SMB? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the abbreviation SMB, including its definition, usage, examples, and more!

Your writing, at its best

Compose bold, clear, mistake-free, writing with Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant

What does the acronym SMB mean?

According to Tech Terms and Small Business, the abbreviation SMB can either stand for server message block or small businesses and medium-sized business. A server message block is a network protocol that is used by Windows-based computers, an operating system that has been developed by Microsoft and IBM. A server message block protocol allows computers that are connected to the same network and or domain to access files, directories, and devices from other local computers. This is the same as if they were on the computer’s local hard drive and are easily accessible. This type of protocol also allows computers to share serial ports and printers within a network as long as both of the machines support SMB protocol. While this type of protocol was originally developed for Windows, many other operating systems including Mac OS X and Linux environments can use this software using a software implementation called Samba as opposed to Windows clients where it is built in like Windows Vista and easier for user experience. Either function allows the SMB protocol to perform file serving, authentication/authorization, name resolution and print services. In recent years, this was renamed in the 1990s to Common Internet File System, or CIFS. CIFS is a dialect of SMB. The designations mean the number of workstations that must be managed from a TCP/IT viewpoint. This protocol operates in the application layer. 

With regard to business, SMB is a marketing strategy term that refers to small and medium sized businesses. Marketing firms used terms like this to describe the customer by the size of a company in either annual revenue or employees, the type of industry vertical, and other factors like location. There are even more specific terms one might use to describe a business like microbusiness, small office/home office (SOHO), and small and medium enterprise (SME). This type of jargon is also used by things like the small business administration or BA to classify businesses. Small business owners might not know these phrases, but they are very useful to study so that you can have professional conversations about your business. Business owners might use terms like small business or family business or independent business, but some of these have negative connotations. However, the term small business also has statutory definitions in a legal sense that can benefit a wide variety of businesses, and that have protection in thousands of state and federal laws, regulations and administrative codes.

According to The Free Dictionary, SMB can stand for much more than just server message block and small and mid-sized business. This internet abbreviation has many different definitions. However, these slangs have less popularity and should therefore be used sparingly. If you do decide to use one of these alternate SMB meanings in instant messaging or on social media platforms, make sure that you provide the reader with the proper context so that they are not confused. When in doubt, use the full form and full meaning of SMB and not the slang term or shorthand. 

  •  Société Monégasque de Bureautique (French: Monaco Office Company)
  •  Separate Mechanized Brigade
  •  Super Monkey Ball (video game)
  •  Surface Marker Buoy
  •  Société Métallurgique de Bretagne (French: Metallurgical Company of Britain; est. 1926)
  •  Seven Mile Beach (Cayman Islands)
  •  Sinhalaye Mahasammata Bhumiputra Party (Sri Lanka)
  •  Staatliche Museen Zu Berlin (national museums in Berlin)
  •  Standoff Minefield Breacher
  •  Shin-Marunouchi Building (Japan)
  •  Shared Memory Buffer (VME boards)
  •  Space Medicine Branch (Aerospace Medical Association)
  •  State Marketing Board
  •  Saint-Médard Basket (French: Saint Médard Basketball; est. 1999)
  •  Supersonic Molecular Beam
  •  Shared Mailbox
  •  Services et Métiers du Bois (French: Wood and Trades Services)
  •  Spirit, Mind and Body (various organizations)
  •  Sage Master Builder (Sage Software)
  •  Sunderland Message Board
  •  Sarap Mag-Beer (Tagalog: San Miguel Beer)
  •  Sarap Maging Barkada (Tagalog: It’s fun to have friends)
  •  Shannon-McMillan-Breiman Theorem
  •  Safety Monitoring Board (US NIH)
  •  Salaire Mensuel de Base (French: Monthly Base Salary)
  •  System Management Bus
  •  Systems Management Board
  •  San Miguel, Bulacan (Philippines)
  •  Special Men’s Business (Australia)
  •  South Mountain Batholith
  •  System Message Block
  •  Sad Mackem Bastard
  •  San Miguel Beer
  •  Steve Miller Band
  •  Surface Mass Balance
  •  Super Mario Brothers (game)
  •  San Miguel Brewery Corp.
  •  Société Médicale Balint (French: Balint Medical Society; est. 1966)
  •  Simulated Moving Bed
  •  Social Media Breakfast (networking)
  •  Self Mating Beam (aluminum construction)
  •  Server Management Board
  •  Secretary’s Morning Brief (US FEMA)
  •  Society for Mathematical Biology
  •  Server Message Block
  •  Southwest Missouri Bank
  •  Session Message Block
  •  Spartan Marching Band (Michigan State University)
  •  Surface Mounted Board
  •  Société Médicale de Biothérapie (French: Medical Society of Biotherapy)
  •  Sub-Miniature B Connector
  •  Société Multinationale de Bitumes (French: Bitumen Multinational Corporation; Côte d’Ivoire)
  •  Session Message Block (Samba)
  •  Société Méridionale du Bâtiment (French: Southern Building Company)
  •  Speed Matching Buffer
  •  Samba
  •  Smart Bits
  •  Single-Mask Bumping
  •  Subminiature Type B
  •  Screaming Mechanical Brain (band)
  •  Super Meat Boy (video game)
  •  Service Maintenance en Betonnière (French: Cement Mixer Maintenance Service)
  •  SmÃ¥ og Mellomstore Bedrifter
  •  Server Message Buffer
  •  School Management Board
  •  Shanghai Meteorological Bureau (Shanghai, China)
  •  System-Managed Buffering (Virtual Storage Access Method)
  •  Secret Men’s Business
  •  Soil Microbial Bioma ss

Overall, the acronym SMB stands for server message block or smaller and medium-sized business. Some of these might be used by an entrepreneur, investors or vendor while others could be used by industry experts in IT to discuss the latest innovation. Try using this abbreviation in a sentence today!

Sources:

  1. SMB – What does SMB stand for? | The Free Dictionary 
  2. SMB (Server Message Block) Definition | Tech Terms 
  3. Note to marketers: Many SMBs don’t know what the acronym SMB means | Small BusinessÂ