MSPmentor

I’m not ready to press a panic button or sound an alarm. Generally speaking, the managed services market remains healthy and growing rapidly. But the weak US economy is starting to impact some managed service providers, according to a recent MSP roundtable attended by Axis Business Solutions.

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Anecdotal evidence suggests that managed service providers are pushing deeper into the Microsoft applications market. Most of the Microsoft-centric initiatives seem to involve hosted Exchange Server, Dynamics CRM and /or SharePoint applications.

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RightNow, a CRM provider that has been shifting to a software as a service (SaaS) business model, is scheduled to release financial results after US markets close today.

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Dell on May 1 is set to host a webinar for its certified managed service provider partners. The company is working overtime to brief press (including MSPmentor) about the webinar.

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Sometimes, managed service providers (MSPs) struggle to scale their business while fulfilling service level agreements (SLAs) with customers. With that challenge in mind, Kaseya has launched Network Operations Center (NOC) Assist, which allows MSPs to leverage Kaseya’s talent pool without hiring more full-time employees.

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Smith on VoIP, one of my favorite blogs, has an interesting piece today about JAJAH — a fast-growing “Voice 2.0″ company that just signed up its 10 millionth customer. Now, according to Smith on VoIP, JAJAH is launching JAJAH Managed Services, positioned as:

“a turnkey telephony service, with everything from network services to billing incorporated in the package.” More importantly, however, Yahoo! will be utilizing the JAJAH platform to provide voice services for their 97 million Yahoo IM users.

For managed service providers, JAJAH represents the latest opportunity to embrace and extend a telephony platform with your own custom code.

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We’ve updated our MSPmentor 250 map to reflect many of our recent reader nominations.

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Mergers and acquisitions continue at a rapid pace in the managed services industry. The latest deal involves Alentus — a managed service provider with software as a service expertise — acquiring two Linux-centric hosting firms.

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Microsoft is preparing an “application streaming” initiative, in an effort to more effectively position Microsoft Office against Google Apps, according to ComputerWorld. Anyone who thinks this is nothing more than a commodity software war needs to think again.

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When it comes to Dell’s partner communications, subtle statements — and non-statements — count for a lot. On the one hand, Dell has worked overtime to tell VARs and managed service providers how to participate in the company’s growing partner program. Kudos. But on the other hand, Dell is potentially sabotaging its own partner program with some of its software as a service (SaaS) press materials.

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Do IT Smarter is doing it. Ingram Micro Seismic is doing it. The Utility Company is doing it. And now NetEnrich is doing it. I’m referring to the increasingly popular “Master MSP” business model, where VARs leverage software as a service (SaaS), and a third-party partner hosts and coordinates the VAR’s managed services platforms.

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Welcome to MSPmentor Live: Podcast edition.

• Episode #: 003 (April 24, 2008)
• Featured Guest: Bob Cagnazzi, CEO, Bluewater Communications Group, one of North America’s fastest-growing solutions providers.
• Topics Covered: Bluewater’s decision to build out its own network operation center (NOC), plus the convergence of unified communications with managed services. Bonus content describes how the iPhone will integrate with unified networks.

And check the MSPmentor Live: Podcast Center for additional weekly podcasts.

 

 MSPmentor Live: Podcast 003, Featuring BlueWater CEO Bob Cagnazzi: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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During a recent shuttle flight, I noticed a fantastic example of managed services marketing. A company called “Got Vmail” placed this in-flight advertisement on airplane snack trays:

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Nirvanix, a company that claims to be the “premier Cloud Storage platform provider,” hopes to rain all over Amazon.com’s Simple Storage Service (S3). Like many managed storage providers, Nirvanix is trying to simultaneously counter Amazon.com while also cashing in on publicity around the S3 network.

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Software as a service (SaaS) remains a hot topic on Wall Street, especially as Salesforce.com shares hit an all-time high. The company recently announced a partnership with Google, and there’s speculation on TechCrunch.com that the search giant and the on-demand software company may get even cozier together.

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Sun made a major software as a service (SaaS) announcement today involving the Solaris operating system. But I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. There’s a high probability, I believe, that Sun will rapidly expand its SaaS efforts to include the MySQL database (near term) and potentially Ubuntu Linux (long term). Here’s why managed service providers should care.

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I’ve been predicting for a few months that TelePresence — loosely defined as next-generation videoconferencing gear — will emerge as a big opportunity for managed service providers.

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We’ve updated our MSPmentor Events Center to include a lengthy list of Webcasts, conferences and road shows focused on managed services. We’ll also be introducing our own MSPmentor Live Webcasts in June. Check out our complete Events Center for details.

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Can a single visionary transform a solutions provider into a managed service provider? Or does it take multiple executives — each, with different talents — to build a thriving managed services business?

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Microsoft is aggressively pursuing business relationships with cable companies as it strives to strengthen its software as a service (SaaS) strategy, MSPmentor has learned. If it secures partnerships with cable companies, Microsoft could wind up competing with some managed service providers that offer hosted Exchange Server systems to small businesses.

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Solution providers have a lot to gain from adopting managed services. Less appreciated is the fact that vendors have a lot at stake, too. Increasingly they realize that adoption of managed services by their channel partners is not only a winning strategy, but an essential strategy for long term success in the SMB market.

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Arnie Bellini has multiple irons in the fire. As CEO of ConnectWise, he’s using several tactics — education, collaboration and software integration — to help grow the overall managed services market — and drive customer interest in ConnectWise. In additional to competing with traditional rivals, ConnectWise could wind up facing off against new competitors. Here’s a sampling of the thoughts he shared during an April 18 phone conversation with MSPmentor.

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The convergence of open source with managed services and software as a service (SaaS) continues. The latest example: Red Hat, arguably the world’s best-known open source company, has created two staff positions to serve hosting partners. Plus, Red Hat is evaluating a strategy to work more closely with managed service providers, MSPmentor has learned. Here’s the scoop.

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