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Circle the Date: SMB Nation Event, Featuring Managed Services Panel
Posted March 11th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
SMB Nation is gearing up for its east coast conference, scheduled for March 29-30 at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey. The event will feature a managed services panel discussion led by Matt Makowicz, author of “Selling Managed Services.”
Guess Who’s Chasing Google Apps?
Posted March 11th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
At first glance, Google Apps’ biggest potential competitor in the online application world is Microsoft.
Software as a Service: Price Wars Coming?
Posted March 11th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
It was inevitable. As Salesforce.com continues to ring up record sales, rivals, startups and even managed service providers are saying they can offer the same quality software as a service — at a lower price.
Managed Email Security Services: Your Choices Mount
Posted March 10th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
At 5:00 p.m. eastern, I was tied up speaking with MX Logic about their strategy for managed email security services. By 5:15 p.m. eastern, my inbox had more news pertaining to this market. Things certainly are getting hyper-competitive in the email security sector.
EMC’s Help Desk Acquisition
Posted March 10th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
I wouldn’t quite file this under “managed services,” but EMC’s latest acquisition — involving Infra Corporation — still caught MSPmentor’s attention. Unfortunately, the EMC press release is filled with technology jargon. But there are some key takeaways for managed service providers.Infra Corporation develops a Web solution that automates IT Service Management processes (including Incident, Problem, Change, Configuration, Release, Availability and Service Level Management). Infra Corporation’s specialties include ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library), a set of best practices that are gaining critical mass with managed service providers.Ultimately, the deal is part of a larger services-oriented trend at EMC. The storage giant a few weeks ago named former Microsoft executive Paul Maritz to head its cloud computing initiatives. And EMC has also launched online storage services based on an earlier acquisition.Terms of the Infra Corporation buyout were not disclosed.
Viral Marketing for Managed Services
Posted March 10th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Considering the popularity of YouTube, it’s hardly surprising that many managed service providers are making videos in a bid to market their companies virally.
Windows Server Managed Services: An Interesting Spin from iYogi
Posted March 10th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Microsoft recently launched Windows Server 2008, yet iYogi — a managed service provider — just announced remote support services for Windows Server 2003. Are they too late to the market? Perhaps not. Instead of embracing “what’s new,” iYogi is wisely targeting a massive installed base with an aggressive price point. Here’s the scoop.
The iPhone Meets Managed Services
Posted March 9th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
It took nearly a year, but managed service providers are finally announcing clear strategies to support Apple’s iPhone with hosted email services. One prime example: SherWeb, an MSP that hosts Microsoft Exchange Server and BlackBerry Enterprise Server, says it plans to support iPhone synchronization with Exchange Server. It’s the first of many iPhone-related announcements MSPmentor expects to hear from MSPs in the next few months.
10 Tips for Choosing A Managed Security Service Provider
Posted March 9th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Paul Rummell, the former chief information officer for the Government of Canada, has some interesting perspectives on the managed security service provider market. In a recent blog entry, he describes the 10 key criteria for choosing a managed security service.
Here’s Rummell’s list:
- Does the IT security managed services vendor understand your business and all its’ risks?
- Are they ‘on top of their game’ to proactively protect and manage you environment?
- Are they cost effective?
- Can they work with your executives and team?
- Do they have offerings that will fit into all of your environments and be proactive in averting all reasonable treats?
- Do they have a good range of products and services?
- Can they communicate well on what they are doing and what counter measures they are taking?
- Can they lead you and your organization through appropriate transitions and changes to make this effective not just around your systems and process, but embed proper security in all that all you and your organization ode?
- What are their best practices for the security domain?
- How are they evolving on a day-to-day basis to protect the information assets of their client organizations and their vital information assets?
Do you agree? Did his miss anything? For more perspectives from Rummell, check out his complete blog entry here.
Green Computing and Managed Services
Posted March 7th, 2008 by MSPMentor
A quick heads up for our Resource Center members: We’ve just posted a Green Computing white paper, describing how IT automation can help you (and your customers) achieve better energy efficiency.
