MSPmentor

Evolve Technologies, a managed services provider in Washington, D.C., seems to be piecing together a compelling cloud strategy that involves iLand, ThinkGrid and Doyenz. Here’s the twist: Evolve helps customers migrate to the cloud for free; there’s no charge for the migration project if the customer agrees to a long-term service contract with Evolve. Here are the details.

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As if RIM didn’t already have enough to worry about, Apple has unveiled the iPhone OS 4.0 — and it’s adding enough new features for enterprise users, including mobile device management and SSL VPN support, that BlackBerry doesn’t seem like the only game in town anymore. Here’s what MSPs should know.

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Eucalyptus Systems has inked a partnership with GroundWork Open Source. The deal should make it easier for corporate IT administrators and MSPs to  manage applications running in the Eucalyptus open source cloud platform. Here’s the deal.

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Back in January (2010), I told MSPs a bit about the emerging managed services middleware market. Fast forward to the present, and MSP middleware — glue that holds multiple applications together — is back on MSPmentor’s radar. The reason: Travis Austin (pictured) at MSPintegrations is working on a few surprises that should surface at the Autotask Community Live conference in Miami (April 18-20). Here are the details.

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MSPs frequently ask me how they can sell into health care accounts. My first piece of advice: Check in with Mike Jones, CEO of ETG, a managed services provider that focuses on the health care vertical. My second piece of advice: Steal a page from the LogMeIn playbook and start hanging out with health care CIOs and attend health care conferences. Here’s why.

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When I heard LANDesk is up for sale yet again, it made me wonder: Did LANDesk — an early leader in PC management — fail to cash in on the managed services boom? At $150 million in annual revenues, you’d think a healthy portion of LANDesk’s business would involve managed services providers. But is that true?

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When it comes to email protection, competition continues to intensify in the managed services market. The latest move comes from GFI Software, which just launched two hosted email security and continuity solutions. Here are some quick details.

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In a blog post entitled “Yes Virginia, there is an Exchange Server 2010 SP1,” the Microsoft Exchange team previewed the new features coming later this year, including enhancements to archiving and discovery and an improved Outlook Web App. Interested?

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In a move intended to maximize the effectiveness of its limited IT staff, non-profit health system Main Line Health has awarded a contract for managed services to SunGard Availability Services. Under the agreement, SunGard will manage the Mail Line Health’s IT infrastructure and provide remote support across Philadelphia-area hospitals. Here’s the deal.

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A research paper form the Brookings Institution, a public policy think tank in Washington, D.C., examines that notion and finds the potential for cost savings. The report, “Saving Money Through Cloud Computing” was released April 7 (2010) at a cloud policy forum. Author Darrell West, vice president and director, Governance Studies, at Brookings, took a look at several government cloud adoption case studies.

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The debate continues. Can managed services providers (MSPs) really profit from Microsoft BPOS? Or is Business Productivity Online Suite a SaaS Trojan Horse — allowing Microsoft to grab hold of your customers and never let go? Here are the two most recent sides to the story.

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A reminder: Join us at 2:00 p.m. eastern today (Wednesday, April 7) for The VAR Guy Live’s Four Steps to SaaS Success. Here’s a closer look at the agenda and guest speakers.

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If you believe the official reports, the recession is over. But with unemployment still hovering at 9.7%, down from 10.4 % last month and some corporate buyers still reluctant to spend, it will take more than statistics to make it feel like the recession is truly over.

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During recent managed services conferences, James Foxall (pictured) has been the public face and voice of Tigerpaw Software Inc. — the PSA (professional services automation) software provider. Now, Foxall has been promoted from VP into Tigerpaw’s president slot. Here are some details.

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Software developer Pagos has announced a partnership with Rackspace Hosting to bring their software-as-a-service (SaaS) spreadsheet solutions to a broader market – and to ensure SAS70 compliance for their customers without costly infrastructure upgrades. Here’s the scoop.

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As Nimsoft kicks off its N-fluence user conference this week in San Francisco, founder Gary Read will deliver a simple message to customers and managed services providers. It goes something like this: Although CA acquired Nimsoft in March 2010, Read says it remains “business as usual” at Nimsoft. Here are some additional thoughts from Read.

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Like it or not, products are an integral (and important) part of any IT Service business. Product sales and services sales go hand-in-hand, drive each the other, and produce a whole that is much bigger than the sum of the parts. With the latest product and services automation tools available today, if you’re not realizing a healthy balance of product and services revenue you’re likely leaving serious money on the table, and setting yourself up for erosion of your existing customer base.

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Comcast is the latest telecommunications supergiant to enter the cloud backup game, as the company now offers all of their millions of ISP customers up to 2GB of free storage. It’s not the world’s most robust solution, apparently, but MSPs who cater to small businesses should take note. Here’s why.

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Evolve Technologies, a solutions provider catering to small businesses in the Washington D.C. Metro area, is partnering with data protection provider eFolder to deliver an off-site backup service. Here are some quick details.

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Velocity Technology Solutions, a hosted applications specialist, is expanding into Canada through a partnership with Primus Telecommunications Canada. In order to address potential corporate compliance and regulatory issues, Primus and Velocity will assure Canadian customers their data is being kept domestically. Here’s the scoop.

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Yes, Kaseya’s phone support lines have experienced heavy call volumes since the Kaseya 2 managed services platform launched in February 2010. But many of those calls are educational in nature, and more than 1,680 managed service providers and customers have made the move to Kaseya 2, asserts CEO Gerald Blackie.

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What services should you include — and exclude — in your managed services offering? A recent call from one of our Virtual Administrator partners got me thinking about that question. John (a fictitious name) told me a story of a managed services client who demanded a service I feel lies outside the scope of a reasonable managed services contract. Here’s the story, and some guidance for established and aspiring MSPs.

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MSPmentor and The VAR Guy each are hosting webcasts for MSPs and solutions providers this month. The lineup starts this Wednesday, April 7, with The VAR Guy Live’s Four Steps to SaaS Success. Next, the MSPmentor Live webcast on April 21 offers a vPro and Windows 7 reality check. Here’s a closer look at the agendas and guest speakers for both events.

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