MSPmentor

Not all application service providers (ASPs) died during the dot-com implosion. Some transformed into hosting providers. A case in point: CyberlinkASP now positions itself as a managed services provider. And the Dallas-based company is now a hosting partner within Microsoft’s BizSpark partner program. Here are some details.

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Some of the most successful MSPS have an all-or-nothing approach, effectively telling the customer: You either entirely outsource all your IT needs to us or find another services provider. This doesn’t work for all MSPs, but the approach defines what you offer and sets clear customer expectations.

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Same story, different month. Long View Systems, ranked near the top of our 2010 MSPmentor 100 research, is the latest managed services provider to earn Cisco’s Managed Services Master Certification. Before mid-2009, Cisco seemed to be doing everything wrong in the managed services market. But by October 2009 or so, Cisco seemed to have turned the corner with MSPs — with new partners signing on each month. Why’s that? Here’s the story.

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When it comes to the economy, I feel like I’m suffering from a split personality. During my recent travels to the Cisco Partner Summit and other major conferences, industry executives crowed about the economic recovery — “It’s real, it’s real.” But when I return home and speak to my neighbors (the folks representing Main Street, U.S.A.) it seems like plenty of people are still feeling the economic pinch. So what exactly does that mean for managed services providers?

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When it comes to the Kaseya 2 platform, there’s a lot of noise in the market. On one side of the fence, some vocal critics claim MSPs are defecting to alternative platforms. On the other side of the fence, Kaseya says it had “explosive” Q1 2010 growth, driven by the Kaseya 2 platform launch. So what’s the reality? Here are some potential clues.

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Ricoh Americas hit my inbox this week with a rather intriguing announcement. The Ricoh news could have implications for the managed print services market. Only, Ricoh didn’t mention managed print services and MSPs in the e-mail to me. In my mind, that’s a potential missed opportunity for Ricoh. Here’s the story.

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When CAWorld kicks off May 16 in Las Vegas, Nimsoft Founder Gary Read will be on hand to make a SaaS pitch to enterprise IT managers and MSPs. Read’s goal: Setting up and demonstrating a SaaS-based managed services system in 30 minutes or less. For CA and Nimsoft alike, the conference represents a critical inflection point. Here’s why.

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Here’s a riddle: There are thousands of MSPs. Most of them focus on similar business models — remote management services for a predictable monthly fee. But why are a few hundred MSPs far more successful than thousands of also-ran MSPs? The answer, I suspect, often involves the corner office, and a CEO’s management style.

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Dozens of media folks are converging on Manhattan today for Microsoft’s Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 launches. But I have to concede: I’ve got writers block as I try to blog about the Office 2010 launch. No doubt, millions of customers continue to see value in Office. But I wonder: Are MSPs focusing at all on the Office 2010 launch? Or have they turned their attention to Microsoft’s other big launch: SharePoint 2010?

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Earlier this year, MSPmentor’s John Moore laid out cloud security vendor Alert Logic’s value proposition for MSPs. Now, Alert Logic has promoted Randy Rosenbaum (pictured) from product marketing manager to the channel chief post. Here are details.

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SPONSORED VIDEO: RiverMuse, which specializes in open source and commercial software, is expected to launch a new version of its mid-market managed services software today. Here’s a look at RiverMuse’s strategy, along with perspectives from CEO JL Valente.

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The MSPmentor Career Center has received several new job listings over the past few days. All of the submissions — including sales, marketing and technical positions — are now advertised in our free MSPmentor Career Center. Here are some quick details.

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When it comes to the Professional Services Automation (PSA) software market, most pundits know about ConnectWise, Autotask and Tigerpaw Software. But Australia’s QoS-IT wants to muscle in on the conversation, too. Built atop Microsoft’s CRM offerings, here’s a bit about the QoS-IT strategy — which includes some potential Windows Azure cloud efforts.

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The crowded market for remote monitoring and management (RMM) software apparently has yet another contender: CentraStage of the United Kingdom is hoping to carve a bigger niche for itself, promoting SaaS-centric administration tools to MSPs. Here are some quick details.

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At Virtual Administrator, I get to work with a lot of small IT providers and Managed Services Practices. I have noticed a common mindset that many, if not most of them have that hinders their ability to get new clients and build a thriving business. They are fixated on selling their services purely based on cost and features.

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LabTech Software, a remote monitoring and management (RMM) software provider, has gained some managed services momentum. The company, which attracted investment money from ConnectWise Capital in February 2010, now has more than 300 customers. Here’s an update from LabTech CEO Matt Nachtrab, and some perspectives for MSPs.

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After several months of research and testing, Sophos — the endpoint security and anti-virus software provider — has launched a managed services partner program. Here are the details from Sophos Channel Chief Chris Doggett (pictured), and a broader look at the managed security service provider (MSSP) market.

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The government has never been far from the Internet, which has its origins in the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The explosion of the Web in the 1990s and growth of electronic commerce brought another form of government involvement. Congress passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998, which placed a moratorium on Internet access taxes. That moratorium was most recently extended in 2007 and now runs through November 2014.  A dozen years after the original tax moratorium, government entities are again looking at the Internet. The focus this time has shifted to privacy. And, of particular interest to service providers, cloud computing falls within the scope of the latest inquiry.

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Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity continues across the managed services landscape. But plenty of MSPs are still struggling to formulate their own exit strategies. And some M&A buyouts ultimately fall through. Why’s that? Here are eight “deal killers” small business owners make when they try to sell their companies.

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For years the prevailing wisdom has been for IT solution providers to focus less on moving products, and more toward a business model built primarily on services delivery. The conventional thinking was that product sales involve too much work for too little margin, while services allow for more predictable and stable recurring revenue.

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MSPmentor is about to hit the road again, traveling to channel partner and managed services conferences through June 8. But before we hop on our next flight, here are seven managed services blog entries we didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending May 7, 2010.

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All too often, when I watch the news or read the headlines of the day I find myself calling “BS” on the topic at hand. Lately, I find myself and others doing much more of this in our own industry – especially when it comes to those who say the solution provider and distributor have no role to play within cloud computing.

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Hosted Exchange 2010 seems to be gaining critical mass. Verio this week became the latest hosting company to offer Microsoft’s latest email platform release. And we’ve heard from several additional hosting providers that are preparing to offer Exchange 2010. But can MSPs continue to differentiate — especially as Microsoft prepares to offer Exchange 2010 as part of BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite)? Here are some thoughts.

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