MSPmentor

Qwest Communications — which already counts 95% of the Fortune 500 as their customers — is going after the midmarket with an IBM-powered line of managed services aimed at enterprises with 15,000 seats or less. Here’s the deal.

The iQ line, as Qwest is calling it, is comprised of two services, says their official press release: Qwest iQ Managed Security Service and the Qwest iQ Network Management service. The former is managed by IBM’s Internet Security Systems (ISS) team while the latter is monitored by IBM operational analysts, and both leverage existing Qwest tools to enhance security and network uptime.

The idea, Qwest says, is to provide these (relatively) smaller companies the same level of functionality and support that their huge, multinational corporate customers expect. It’s an idea we’ve heard before, which leaves me wondering if scaling services down is going to be a trend.

To a giant like Qwest, 15,000 seats may seem small. But my guess is that most of the managed service providers reading this won’t need to worry until that number gets knocked down to the triple or double digits.

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