MSPmentor

Savvis executives shed some light on the company’s cloud computing thrust during this week’s Q3 earnings. Much of the discussion revealed how software as a service (SaaS) is giving Savvis a lift.  Here are the highlights.

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Life is moving pretty fast. Voicemail  and email are overflowing. And we’re packing for multiple events the week of Nov. 2. Here’s a look at seven managed services blog entries we didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Oct. 30, 2009.

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A few leading-edge managed service providers are starting to leverage Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-based operating system. A case in point: West Monroe Partners, one of Chicago’s best-known MSPs, embraced Windows Azure and hosted Silverlight to get The City of Chicago up and running with a scalable, fast, user-friendly interactive map for all the events of the world-famous “Taste of Chicago” event. Here are some details from the project.

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I got a note this morning from a loyal reader who stated point blank: The MSPMentor site performance has be slow lately. My response: You’re right and we’re fixing it. Across the board, Nine Lives Media Inc.‘s web traffic is up 140 percent in October 2009 vs. October 2008. We thank you for your growing readership. We’re taking two steps to improve site responsiveness: A hardware upgrade from our service provider plus a few of our own software architecture tweaks. I will post a follow-up comment to this blog entry as soon as the adjustments are completed. In the meantime we appreciate the honest feedback. We’re listening and responding.

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Two promising anecdotes from Wall Street this week: The economy is growing again. And for the third quarter, two-thirds of publicly held companies have delivered earnings that beat Wall Street’s expectations, according to WCBS Radio in New York. Here are some quick observations for managed service providers.

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We’ve already conceded that most MSPmentor readers have yet to try major clouds like Amazon Web Services. But if you’re just starting to give Amazon a look you might also want to keep one eye on Eucalyptus Systems Inc. — an open source system for private and hybrid clouds. Here’s why.

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What can two former stay-at-home moms and a 38-year-old tech guru teach you about the managed storage market? Plenty. No doubt, many managed service providers are struggling to differentiate in the storage as a service market. Sometimes, all it takes is finding a niche. Such is the case at Studentbackup.com. Here’s the story.

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Several new managed services career opportunities have surfaced on MSPmentor’s free job board — including opportunities at America’s Remote Help Desk and PacketTrap networks. Here are some quick details.

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As of 10:30 a.m. eastern on Oct. 28, ConnectWise has restored service to 198 partners impacted by a Hosted ConnectWise outage, according to CEO Arnie Bellini. MSPmentor posted chatter about the outage on Oct. 27. Readers weighed in and Bellini posted an apology. So, what’s next?

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Here’s an endorsement for the managed services sector: private equity firm General Atlantic has announced plans to invest $150 million into Quality Technology Service to help grow that company’s managed services offering. Here are some quick details.

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The IT channel, it seems, is converging in Orlando the week of Nov. 2. We’ve already offered previews of the HTG Peer Group gathering and ConnectWise Partner Summit. But don’t forget: Symantec will be in town for Symantec Partner Engage… and it’s safe to bet that Symantec could unveil some SaaS surprises for VARs and managed service providers. Here’s why.

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The third quarter of 2009 was kind to The Planet, the Texas-based web hosting provider. At least, that’s what their momentum statement, issued Oct. 28, indicates. The really big deal, though, is The Planet’s  biggest customers are spending more money — which may well be a sign of a recovering economy.

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A single growing pain or real problems? ConnectWise apparently is working to restore its hosted PSA service. Problems seem to have started mid-day October 26 and there are indications full service won’t be restored until Oct. 28. Here are some of the details.

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N-able VP of Sales Mike Cullen is heading back to Australia in November 2009 for four N-able hosted conferences. Cullen isn’t the only North American MSP software executive who has been spending time in Australia this year. For most of 2009, a managed services land grab has been spreading across the land down under. Here’s a look at recent trends in Australia.

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Talk about two extremes: Yesterday, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth (the guy behind Ubuntu Linux) said Amazon Web Services has emerged as a de facto cloud standard until open, vendor-neutral cloud standards can be developed. Yet only three percent of MSPs leverage Amazon’s cloud, according to our ongoing MSPmentor 100 survey. What’s behind the disconnect? Here are some thoughts.

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Roughly 220 managed service providers and VARs are set to converge in Orlando, Fla., at the HTG Peer Group meetings. Cloud computing will be a central theme for the meeting. But there will also be a big focus on so-called “legacy plans.” Here’s what to expect at the HTG gathering, and the clues it may offer about the MSP industry’s evolution.

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Kutenda, which specializes in online marketing services for managed service providers and their end customers, is launching a special offer for MSPs. According to a press release that should surface this week, the Broomfield, Colo.-based company says Kutenda now offers MSPs a free, ready-to-go web site built for lead generation. But there’s a bigger story here. And it involves simplified, automated online marketing for MSPs and their customers. Here are the details.

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The rumors were correct: Ingram Micro Seismic has introduced a 30-day free trial and two months of free service for its Global NOC. Of course, the free offer comes with a few catches. And it continues the “free” theme that’s sweeping across the managed services industry. Here are some more details.

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When we pontificated on the ups and downs of Drupal a few weeks ago, we kept hearing one thing over and over again: What about Joomla and JoomConnect? Well, here’s the deal: Joomla! (The exclamation point is part of their name), a free and open modular content management system, is compelling on its own. But JoomConnect — a service that integrates Joomla! with ConnectWise — is starting to generate buzz of its own.

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Add Equinix Inc. to the list of service providers stepping up their D.C. presence. The company has been operating data centers in the Washington area, but verticals other than government, for the most part, have filled the business pipeline there. Now, Equinix is taking a closer look at federal government opportunities. Here’s why.

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If you’re an MSP trying to decide whether to cooperate or compete with Microsoft’s SaaS offerings, here’s another avenue for you to consider: Ingram Micro Seismic, the master managed service provider, has inked a co-marketing and sales agreement to offer Intermedia’s hosted Microsoft offerings — including hosted Exhange 2007, SharePoint and Dynamics 3.0. Here’s a closer look at Ingram Micro Seismic’s overall strategy, Intermedia’s business model and the emerging Microsoft SaaS industry.

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The ConnectWise Partner Summit kicks off Nov. 4 in Orlando, Fla. Roughly 900 managed service providers — including HTG Peer Group members — are expected to converge on the event. Here are five trends we’ll be tracking at the conference.

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As we mentioned briefly, Spiceworks, the free ad-supported remote services platform, has wrapped up the Spiceworld Austin 2009 conference. The biggest news to come out of the event was hundreds of free IT plug-ins for their purported 775,000-strong Spiceworks user base, which spans IT managers and service providers. Here’s the deal.

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