MSPmentor

At first glance, a partnership between Tigerpaw Software and Labtech Software — announced today — is minor news. But take a closer look and I think the Tigerpaw-Labtech relationship represents a key moment for everyone in the managed services market, regardless of which software tools you use. Here’s why.

Read More >

More affiliate program buzz as well-known hosted Exchange provider Intermedia looks to expand their partner success outside of the US. Specifically, Intermedia wants to help European partners capitalize on a projected boom in hosted mailboxes. Meanwhile, some VARs and MSPs say they may move away from Microsoft’s own BPOS services. Here’s the story.

Read More >

As Hewlett-Packard attempts to block former CEO Mark Hurd from joining Oracle, here’s a somewhat related question for your small business: Would your business be crippled if your best sales leader or business leader joined a rival MSP? If so, what are you doing to protect your business from that doomsday scenario?

Read More >

I’ve spent recent weeks speaking with more than a dozen MSPs (managed services provider) executives, each of whom was involved in a merger or acquisition between 2007 and 2010. All of the deals involved regional MSPs in North America. My key question to them: What type of valuations do MSPs generate? The answers varied a bit. But I came to a pretty simple conclusion. Here it is…

Read More >

ManageEngine, a division of ZOHO Corp., has launched MSP Center Lite, an agent-based remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform for managed services providers. The interesting twist: MSP Center Lite is free for MSPs that want to manage up to 25 devices. Beyond that, the software starts at $545 per year for 50 managed devices. Here’s a closer look at ManageEngine’s strategy plus the MSP freemium trend.

Read More >

Continuity Centers, which provides disaster recovery solutions, has launched a MobileVault data protection service powered by Asigra. Here’s a closer look at Continuity Centers’ strategy.

Read More >

The Planet, the managed hosting company that works closely with the IT channel, has launched a promotion for the month of September 2010. Specifically, their referral partners can receive incentives for customers that sign agreements under the usual year-long term. Here’s the story.

Read More >

Our next MSPmentor Live webcast is today (Wednesday, September 8th) at 2:00 p.m. eastern. We’ll cover six ways to reduce your operating costs even as you boost service levels. Here’s a closer look at the webcast content…

Read More >

The Oracle vs. Hewlett-Packard feud took several dramatic twists and turns today. In case you missed the blow-by-blow: Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has threatened to end Oracle’s relationship with HP. Ellison’s tersely written statement emerged after HP attempted to block Mark Hurd from joining Oracle. HP, you may recall, fired Hurd in August 2010 following a sexual harassment investigation that uncovered questionable expense reports. Meanwhile, Hurd had a good track record with HP’s partners, but there are at least two areas where Hurd could improve his partner focus at Oracle. Just to make things extra-interesting: HP Executive VP Ann Livermore appears set to speak at the upcoming Oracle OpenWorld conference. But will Livermore keep the date on her calendar? We’re checking. You can track the ongoing HP vs Oracle feud on MSPmentor’s sister site, The VAR Guy.

Read More >

Consider the following scenario: You’re a managed services provider. Instead of investing big bucks to build your own hosted applications, you entrust your end-customers to Microsoft’s cloud — including Exchange Online and SharePoint Online. But in the past few weeks, that Microsoft cloud — called BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) — has gone dark at least three times. The big question: Will end-customers remain patient amid Microsoft’s SaaS growing pains? Or is there something fundamentally wrong with Microsoft’s hosting strategy?

Read More >

Our next MSPmentor Live webcast is this Wednesday (September 8th) at 2:00 p.m. eastern. We’ll cover six ways to reduce your operating costs even as you boost service levels. Here’s a closer look at the webcast content and our guest speakers.

Read More >

One of the hottest topics in cloud computing today is that of identity and access management, with every major player trying to figure out the best way to make sure only those who need to access cloud data, can. Amazon Web Services is throwing their hat into the ring with the “preview beta” of AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). Here’s the story.

Read More >

You may recall that Google ceased development of their Wave e-mail/collaboration/instant messaging platform back in August 2010. But it’s rising again, Google now reports, in the form of the “Wave in a Box” project, putting the open source server and web client code already completed into a single application. Here’s the scoop.

Read More >

Eucalyptus Systems is probably best known as the open source private cloud platform provider. Jamcracker is a unified cloud services delivery and management provider. Together, Eucalyptus and Jamcracker are now offering self-service infrastructure clouds to the IT world. Here’s the skinny.

Read More >

For the first time in a long time, I suspect the entire Nine Lives Media Inc. team plans to unplug for a 3-day weekend. Of course, we’ll be back online if there’s any breaking news. In the meantime, here are seven managed services blog entries MSPmentor’s team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Sept. 3, 2010.

Read More >

At first glance, today wasn’t such a great day for cloud computing. Microsoft suffered its second major cloud outage in recent weeks, raising more questions about the reliability of big, commercial cloud systems. Still, I’ve got a theory: I suspect cloud computing is still more reliable than most on-premises networks. Here’s why.

Read More >

Portions of Microsoft BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), the software giant’s SaaS platform, went dark for 90 minutes today. It’s the second cloud outage in recent weeks for BPOS, which includes SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and other Microsoft SaaS applications. The latest outage arrives as Microsoft is locked in a SaaS pricing war with Google, plus Microsoft is still working to launch the latest Exchange 2010 and SharePoint 2010 releases to its cloud customers. Here’s a closer look at today’s outage and the competitive variables facing BPOS.

Read More >

CentraStage, which offers a SaaS-based managed services platform, isn’t all that well known in North America. But the UK-based company continues to build its international reseller channel. The latest CentraStage moves involve partnerships with B-Logic in South Africa and GoWorld in New Zealand. Here are some details.

Read More >

DSP Managed Services, which claims to be the United Kingdom’s top provider of managed services, has joined the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) as a platinum member. But where exactly does Oracle fit in the managed services market? DSP and the OPN Specialized partner program provide some clues.

Read More >

As Joe Panettieri wrote in a recent post, good sales talent is hard to find these days. On one hand, it’s good to see people in our space having that kind of problem — I think we’ll all take that over managing through layoffs. On the other hand, it is a problem, and a vexing one for many MSPs trying to grow right now. For those in that position, I don’t have any quick fixes. But I do have four suggestions that I hope will help you find, recruit, retain and promote the right talent.

Read More >

Vertical market chatter is growing louder in the managed services market. A week after Autotask CEO Bob Godgart shared some vertical market strategies for MSPs, N-able has announced a deeper push into the education, finance and healthcare sectors. I’ve spent plenty of time blogging about finance and healthcare. But how can MSPs push into the higher education market? N-able reminded me of a very simple answer…

Read More >

Ingram Micro has found Justin Crotty’s successor. The distributor has named Renée Bergeron as VP of managed services and cloud computing for its North America region. Translation: Bergeron has a slightly different title, but she essentially succeeds Crotty as the head of the Ingram Micro Services Network, Seismic services portfolio and the Cloud Conduit Initiative and Advisory Council. Here are additional details.

Read More >

In the latest managed services merger, outsourceIT and Bald Eagle Technologies are combining forces to offer small business customers help desk, managed services, CIO, infrastructure migration, virtualization, security and complete hosting services, the two companies say. Here’s a closer look at the deal and the broader market for MSP mergers and acquisitions.

Read More >