Forgive me for being distracted (again). Our team is busy polishing and posting the MSPmentor 100 report onto a hidden section of our website. The complete report debuts Feb. 10, shortly after a webcast on the topic. In the meantime, here are seven managed services blog entries our team didn’t have the time to write for the week ending Feb. 5, 2010.
7. Time to Differentiate: PacketTrap, recently acquired by Quest Software, thinks basic remote monitoring has become a commodity. The company will increasingly focus on traffic management and network management, especially between multiple cloud services. Also, PacketTrap will likely integrate with ConnectWise as soon as next week.
6. Equal Time: It seems I can’t keep ConnectWise and Autotask users happy. When I write about one company, the other company’s user community demands equal time. I’m trying, folks. So here’s a quick one-two update for you. ConnectWise’s Twitter feed says more than 900 partners have attended the company’s recent user group gatherings across the world. Meanwhile, Autotask is reminding its user base that the Autotask Community Live conference is set for April.
5. Sold on Managed Services: Metcalfe Realty Company, one of Canada’s largest property management firms, has signed a three-year managed IT services contract with The Utility Company. Side note: My brother is in real estate. My dad’s in real estate. They both constantly seek MSP guidance. No joke. Realtors are super-mobile folks, as are commercial property managers. They want data at their fingertips, and data protection for their back-office systems…
4. Ready for Your Close Up?: Tata Communications is teaming with Whygo, a global specialist in public videoconferencing facility scheduling, to provide Telepresence solutions. But I got to say: The more I use our own FastChat video conferencing system, the more I realize you don’t need to spend a ton of money to organize and capture good video conversations.
3. Kaseya Officially Announces Kaseya 2: Seriously, it’s announced. Offerings range from Kaseya Free to an enterprise offering. Everything is supposed to be available this quarter…
2. Attracting Money?: I mentioned ChannelCloud’s imminent launch earlier this week. Now, a few folks are telling me to keep an eye on gCloud3 — which specializes in desktop virtualization, server consolidation, and other cloud opportunities for channel partners. Details are sketchy… but I hear money may flow gCloud3’s way. But I still say we’re in a cloud bubble.
1. Growing Pains?: Our sister site, The VAR Guy, noted that Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) has had scattered outages in recent days, following SaaS price cuts a couple of months ago. There are also rumors of Microsoft launching a BPOS Lite for small business SaaS. Translation: Microsoft keeps launching new, low-cost SaaS efforts.
Question: Will reliability and value take priority over low-cost SaaS leadership?
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Posted In: Marketing | Mergers & Acquisions | PSA | Platforms | Sales | Software as a Service and Hardware as a Service | Virtualization
Tags: Autotask Community Live! | ConnectWise | gCloud3 | Kaseya2 | Microsoft BPOS | Microsoft SaaS | PacketTrap | Quest Software | The Utility Company
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Joe –
Lets make a bet. Do you think you can go more than a week without mentioning Kaseya?
I don’t make bets. I invest wisely (hopefully…).
-jp
@MSP, Why wouldn’t this site mention a major release from a major MSP platform? I’d start to worry that Joe and Co. weren’t paying attention if they didn’t mention it… If you and the other critics can do it better than start your own sites, otherwise quit being a troll and appreciate the fact that someone is out there providing this information in the first place.
@Joe, I think anyone with a brain realizes that some industry players produce more news than others. Your coverage is fair and usually spot on…although I disagree with Cloud Computing being hype.
Off my pedestal and back to shoveling snow…
I just wanted to mention that gCLOUD3 is a player in Priave Cloud computing, as we understand that security needs to be addressed in the cloud computing arena, and businesses still want control of their data, and in the hands of their trusted advisors, their MSP.
At gCLOUD3, we believe that there is not a cloud bubble, but more of a bottle neck, due to the demand being higher than the adoption rate currently. The other issue right now, is that MSPs are trying to figure out how to make money with cloud products. The main issue with most MSPs is how can I transition my client over to a private cloud, save them money and/or provide more value.
Cloud offerings are value propositions to the clients, to increase something, such as productivity, profitibility, etc. The issue is that especially private clouds, are a long term solution, and mosts MSPs are use to trying to provide a short term fix on the hardware and software front, because their core is support, not hardware or software sales.
At the end of the day, it is educating MSPs properly that will allow for the adoption of cloud.
Hi Michael: Thanks for offering your perspectives. Only one quick question… How can demand be higher than the adoption rate?
-jp
Demand is high, but the issue is that MSPs are just starting to wrap their head around how private cloud products will work for their clients.
Our goal right now is to educate MSPs and help them with clients that currently need to upgrade their infrastructures. Private cloud computing is based up replacement cycles of the MSP’s client infrastructures. We see this a 5 five year cycle for a 40%-50% adoption rate.
So I should say “interest” is what I was referencing demand to, although demand is definitely increase as MSPs are educated on how private cloud will help them and their clients, and at the end of the day they really want to figure out the best way to profit form the cloud.