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Intel Transitions European MSPs to N-able
Posted August 10th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
Intel no longer plans to build a managed services cloud across Europe. Instead, the chip giant has transitioned Intel Multi-Site Director SaaS customers (roughly 400 to 425 of them) to N-able. Here’s the scoop.
Webcast: Six Ways to Find (And Win) New Business
Posted August 10th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
Our next MSPmentor Live: webcast is Aug. 19 at 2:00 p.m. eastern. During the discussion, we’ll cover six ways managed service providers (MSPs) and solutions providers can find and win new business. The format will be interactive. We’ll spend roughly 10 minutes on each business and sales tip.
Managed Services Blend With Corporate IT Departments
Posted August 10th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
When it comes to managed services, Waka Digital Media Corp. is breaking with tradition. Instead of competing with corporate IT, the Amherst, Mass.-based managed service provider is partnering up with corporate IT directors. Could this be the start of a larger managed services trend?
Add-on Managed Service: WAN Optimization
Posted August 10th, 2009 by John Moore
Managed service providers (MSPs) looking to extend their reach may find a ripe niche in managed WAN optimization. Here are some observations.
Tweet You Later
Posted August 7th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against Twitter on Aug. 6 continues to impact MSPmentor’s Twitter feed. I must admit: I feel like somebody has ripped a megaphone out of my hands. Here’s why.
Terremark Finds $2.5 Million in the Cloud
Posted August 7th, 2009 by John Moore
Terremark Worldwide is beginning to measure the impact of its year-old enterprise cloud services business. And the numbers look promising. Take a look.
Updated: Managed Services Videos
Posted August 7th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
The MSPmentor FastChat Video Center contains several new videos — including interviews with Google Apps Channels Director Stephen Cho, Kaseya CEO Gerald Blackie, Level Platforms CEO Peter Sandiford, Red Hat North America Channel Chief Roger Egan, and Motorola Channel Chief Janet Schijns (who’s preparing a managed services strategy). Each interview contains three questions and answers. Short, sweet and to the point.
The MSP Industry’s Dirty Little Secret
Posted August 7th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
If you still think managed service providers (MSPs) are immune to the recession, here’s an eye-opening recap of my breakfast conversation with the CEO of a major MSP software provider. Although the executive remains optimistic about the overall managed services market, he conceded that the industry currently suffers from a dirty little secret.
Level Platforms: SaaS Business Growing 200% Annually
Posted August 6th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
The majority (about 85 percent) of Level Platforms’ business involves on-premise managed services software deployments. But in terms of raw growth, Level Platforms’ SaaS business has been rising about 200 percent year-over-year, estimates CEO Peter Sandiford. But that’s not all.
Motorola Preparing Managed Services Partner Program
Posted August 5th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
Motorola Channel Chief Janet Schijns says the company plans to beta test a managed services partner program sometime in late 2009. In a refreshing twist, Schijns told me that not all VARs should become MSPs. Schijns shared the preliminary strategy with MSPmentor during CompTIA Breakaway 2009 in Las Vegas. Here’s how Motorola’s MSP strategy will unfold.
Update: Kaseya 6 and SaaS Meet Managed Services
Posted August 5th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
Kaseya is launching a white label SaaS (software as a service) offering for ASCII Group members. Plus, the company is polishing the Kaseya 6 framework for both SaaS and on-premise deployments. Here’s where Kaseya is heading next, according to CEO Gerald Blackie (pictured).
Virtualized Desktops: A Real MSP Opportunity?
Posted August 4th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
Consider the following scenario: In order to improve desktop reliability and reduce the total cost of PC ownership, you virtualize your customers’ desktop environments in a cloud. Can managed service providers deliver that type of solution today? Companies like Canonical, ICC Global Hosting, IBM and Virtual Bridges such seem to think so.
Managed Service Providers Demand Firefox Support
Posted August 4th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
While the managed services market continues to converge with SaaS (software as a service) and cloud computing, I’m increasingly hearing from readers who have a far more basic request: They want all of their managed services platforms to support the three major browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari — with Google Chrome also popping up on some request lists.
Webcast: Six Ways to Find (And Win) New Business
Posted August 4th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
Our next MSPmentor Live: webcast is Aug. 19 at 2:00 p.m. eastern. During the discussion, we’ll cover six ways managed service providers (MSPs) and solutions providers can find and win new business. The format will be interactive. We’ll spend roughly 10 minutes on each business and sales tip.
MSPs: Time to Collect Unpaid Invoices
Posted August 3rd, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
If you believe the hype, managed services are recession proof. But here’s a confession: I don’t believe the hype. I’m hearing from more and more managed service providers (MSPs) that have stacks of unpaid invoices from customers. No doubt, those unpaid invoices hurt MSP cash flow, R&D and business planning. Here are some anecdotes I’ve heard from readers, plus some potential solutions to the unpaid invoice challenge.
CompTIA Breakaway: Managed Print Services Gain Spotlight
Posted August 3rd, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
I hesitate to call this “the year” of managed print services, but it certainly seems like vendors, industry associations and managed service providers are rallying around managed print services. The latest example comes from CompTIA Breakaway 2009, kicking off this week in Las Vagas.
