MSPmentor

PacketTrap Networks, which specializes in monitoring software for managed service providers, has been acquired, MSPmentor has learned. News of the deal surfaces only a few hours after chatter started about a possible ConnectWise-CharTec business relationship. Here’s some quick information about PacketTrap’s buyer. Plus, a look at the MSP software industry’s changing competitive landscape.

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Sources say something is cooking between ConnectWise and CharTec — which specializes in Hardware as a Service. What could be brewing? At first glance, I don’t know much. At all. (Surprised?) But take a closer look and you might start to see the bigger picture. It involves PSA (professional services automation) and RMM (remote monitoring and management) software companies eventually cooperating and competing in the cloud. Here’s why.

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Adds, moves and changes: Several managed services industry veterans are making career moves ahead of the New Year. Some of the moves are public knowledge. Others are still to be formally announced. Confirmed today: Brian Sherman, the well-known veteran of Autotask and Business Solutions magazine, has launched Tech Success Communications. And Todd McKendrick, a veteran of Dell Managed Services and Do IT Smarter, is leaping to Nimsoft. Here’s a closer look at both moves.

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CA Inc. (formerly Computer Associates International Inc.) is preparing to push its ARCserve backup and restore platform into the managed services market. Specifically, CA is developing licensing options that will make it easier for MSPs to generate recurring revenue from ARCserve. Here are quick details.

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Our blog team attended a Dec. 2 lunch-and-learn session hosted by DynTek (an $85 million solutions provider). During the gathering, DynTek educated more than 60 existing and target customers about Windows 7 and virtual desktop infrastructure. It got me wondering: How many managed service providers are planning similar lunch and learns for 2010? And if you’ve never hosted a lunch and learn how can you get started?

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Our blog team spent Dec. 2 in New York at a lunch-and-learn hosted by DynTek (an $85 million solutions provider), Microsoft and Citrix. The topic: Virtualized Desktop Infrastructure and Windows 7. But during a side interview, DynTek Managing Director Ken Young offered up his thoughts on Microsoft’s cloud strategy. Our key question: Can VARs and MSPs really profit from Windows Azure (Microsoft’s Windows cloud) and BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite, which includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, etc.). Here’s a recap of the conversation.

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