MSPmentor

Spiceworks, the free IT management and monitoring platform, gets personal with the launch of People View, allowing administrators to view the network by person rather than by device or service. Here is some insight.

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What’s the most logical place to find new revenue? One obvious tip: Check in with you existing customers and upsell them new services. But in many cases that’s easier said than done. What you really need is a simple, repeatable upsell strategy that you can use across your entire customer base. Here it is…

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When CA Technologies and N-able announced a partnership earlier today, it begged a natural question: Does CA’s N-able relationship somehow compete or conflict with CA’s own Nimsoft business? After all, both Nimsoft and N-able offer remote monitoring and management (RM) software for MSPs. Here’s some perspective from Nimsoft CEO Gary Read (pictured).

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N-able continues to bang the drum for freemium software to grow the managed services market. The latest example involves a freemium remote backup software offer involving N-able and CA Technologies. The move also proves that CA, owner of Nimsoft, continues to work with a range of MSP software providers rather than purely Nimsoft. Here are the potential implications for MSPs.

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Backup My Info! — with a name like that, you can guess their market — enhances their SMB play with the announcement that their fully managed, namesake online service has expanded operating system and application support. This is the latest in a flurry of backup-related news that we expect to surface today. Here’s the scoop.

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BlueTie, which provides hosted messaging and collaboration solutions to the enterprise, has finalized a deal to acquire web-based file sharing application Wonderfile. The company says it’s part of an overall play to take on Google and Microsoft with a channel-ready SharePoint alternative. Here are some insights.

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When it comes to managed services, is Dell retreating to the enterprise? That could be the case, based on a recent big deal involving BNSF Railway plus an article in USA Today. Still, I’m not convinced that Dell plans to favor large enterprises over SMB opportunities. Here’s the update.

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When Verizon launched its Computing as a Service (CaaS) SMB strategy today, I was curious to know if the big service provider plans to work with smaller channel partners. No doubt, Verizon’s cloud leverages partnerships with VMware and Terremark. But what’s the message to smaller MSPs? Perhaps the answer is for MSPs to dial Rackspace, The Planet or another channel-friendly cloud partner. Here’s why.

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What’s the reward for growing your small managed services business? The answer: More government forms to fill out, according to Inc.com. The online magazine notes that small businesses are rallying this week to fight a 1099 rule that could trigger more paper work and red tape for entrepreneurs who are trying to pull the U.S. economy out of its slump. Here are the details.

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When it comes to market research and statistics, I’m always a bit wary. Seems to me like nobody is held accountable for whether an IT market forecast ever actually turns our right or wrong. Despite those caveats, I’m still intrigued by a few stats and forecasts about how the managed services market may evolve. Here some figures worth noting.

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Glowpoint and Equinix are partnering up to promote managed video services to carriers across North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific regions. The move arrives as giants like Cisco Systems and video upstarts like Burstpoint Networks and Vu Technologies attempt to work more closely with managed services providers. Here are the details.

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Conventional wisdom says it’s difficult to small MSPs to work in the financial services industry, which is ruled by complex regulations and compliance mandates. But Dan Holt (pictured), CEO  of HEIT, continues to prove the skeptics wrong. In fact, HEIT has scheduled a 2010 summit to help financial institutions understand how they can improve IT performance, compliance and security. Here are some details.

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The VAR Guy rarely ventures away from his own web site. But when Intel decided to launch a viral video involving the MSP legend of Geoff Bradshaw, The VAR Guy was intrigued and tuned in. Here’s why…

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I’ve criticized Hewlett-Packard a few times for its lack of focus on managed services providers. But HP’s buyout of ArcSight, coupled with HP Channel Chief Stephen DiFranco’s managed services expertise, could help HP to further engaged MSPs — especially managed security service providers (MSSPs). Here’s why.

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The MSPmentor 100 is full of service providers thaat pride themselves on their accessibility to their community. But how many are aiming to extend their “community” to the entire state of Texas? Enter White Glove Technologies, number 84 on the MSPmentor 100 2010. I had the chance to talk with company president Carey Balzer about where the company’s been and where it’s going.

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Between Farmville, Mafia Wars, and a million other applications, it’s easy to see how Facebook has quickly become one of the leading productivity stealers in the enterprise. But how do you curb social networking without looking like a heel to your users? I raise the issue because of a recent conversation I had with an IT manager, who is fighting back against Facebook in his own organization.

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The holiday-shortened week here in the U.S. means we have a backlog of news leads and blog ideas that have yet to surface on MSPmentor. In fact, here are seven managed services blog entries that the MSPmentor team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending September 10, 2010:

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As President Obama proposes tax breaks and new lending programs for small businesses, I have to wonder: Do small business owners and entrepreneurial MSPs really want more help from the government? Or are MSPs really seeking fewer barriers to doing business? Here’s what I mean.

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Having bulked up its Chicago operations, Latisys has turned its attention to the West Coast — specifically Orange County, California. The company has plans for a 93,000 square foot facility in Irvine. The data center, slated to receive customers in Q2 2011, will be Latisys’ second in Orange County. Do these moves indicate continued growth for cloud-centric data centers?

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I have a theory: Technology companies always work on big mergers or executive moves during three-day holiday weekends in the U.S. That theory held true during Labor Day Weekend when former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd joined Oracle as co-president, triggering a war of words between Oracle and Hewlett-Packard. If you missed the daily blow-by-blow, here’s a single blog with all the key headlines to help you keep score…

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Like peanut butter and jelly, disaster recovery and cloud computing seem destined to stick together. Two prime examples: Disaster recovery in the cloud saw more action this week with announcements stemming from Axcient Inc. and Symantec Corp. Here’s the update.

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When it comes to hardware as a service (HaaS), many MSPs see revenue opportunities involving servers, desktops, laptops and printers. But the next HaaS opportunity will likely involve IP phones, according to vendors that are set to attend the Channel Partners Conference and Expo (Sept. 20-22, Washington, D.C.). One particular company to watch: Alteva, a hosted unified communications specialist. Here’s why.

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Across Australia and New Zealand, hundreds — perhaps thousands — of IT service providers are joining managed services user groups and attending local MSP-centric conferences. The latest examples involve Autotask and Kaseya. But the examples don’t end there. Here’s an update.

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