Keep an eye on Xero, the New Zealand-based company that markets an online accounting application. As mentioned in a prior newsletter even though this is nominally a low-end package, Jim Bourke, principal of WithumSmith-Brown, says it can compete effectively further upstream. Next month, Jamie Sutherland, who formerly ran Sage’s Simply Accounting efforts, is scheduled to take over as managing director for the United States. Meanwhile, CEO Rod Drury continues his American buzz building and is speaking at the Sleeter Group’s conference in Las Vegas in early November. Also, the company recently completed a significant upgrade to its hosting architecture, which it said represents a major step in the scaling of Xero’s database platform and a faster underlying storage layer.