MSPmentor

Two data specialists MSPmentor has been following for some time have aligned forces, as Seagate subsidiary i365 is planning to resell Datacastle‘s trademark RED data protection solution as both SaaS and on-premise software under the EVault brand. Here’s the scoop.

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Question: Does Nimsoft make managed services software or cloud services software? Answer: It depends on your personal perspective. While the Nimsoft Monitoring Solution (NMS) continues to attract MSPs, Nimsoft also is catching on with cloud services providers like Sungard. Specifically, Sungard selected NMS as the foundation for a new cloud services offering. Here’s the update.

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The lines between cloud computing and managed services continue to blur. The latest example: MSP University, ChannelCloud and ClearCenter are set to to launch a cloud education, training and certification effort in 2011. An official announcement is expected sometime around December 8. In the meantime here’s a preview.

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The fourth-annual MSPmentor 100 survey continues through December 17. In the meantime, we continue to check in with managed services providers that landed on our third-annual MSPmentor 100 list. This time we’re taking a look at Glowpoint, which specializes in enterprise-level video solutions. I recently had the chance to speak with Anil Balani, senior VP of product, and Jonathan Brust, VP of marketing, about Glowpoint’s progress in 2010. They had two themes to share with me: growth and video. Read on for the details.

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Sometimes an MSP’s job is semantical as well as technical. Take the latest version of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS 2.0), which has been out for a few weeks now. MSPs say the standard clarifies  the language of the previous iteration, which had some enterprises confused. The PCI standard prescribes security measures for businesses that handle customers’ credit card data. The PCI Security Standards Council, which manages the PCI DSS 2.0 standard, said most of the changes in the new version “are modifications to the language, which clarify the meaning of the requirements and make adoption easier for merchants.” Here’s the update.

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The General Services Administration last week provided some reinforcement behind the Obama Administration’s “cloud-first policy,” taking action of its own. Specifically, GSA awarded a $6.7 million, five-year task order contract to Unisys Corp. for cloud-based e-mail and collaboration tools. In the process, GSA claimed to be the first federal agency to move e-mail into the cloud on an agency-wide basis. Unisys partners with Google, Tempus Nova, and Acumen Solutions.

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Staff meetings. Strategic plans. And lots of coding. Our team — and our media platforms — are preparing for 2011 growth. And a few surprises in December. But all the planning means some blogs didn’t get written. Indeed, here are seven managed services blog entries that the MSPmentor team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Dec. 3, 2010.

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Google Apps resellers get a powerful new tool in their arsenal with the launch of a reporting API that gives more insight into how the cloud productivity suite is being used. The functionality isn’t new, but the ability for resellers to leverage it programmatically is intriguing. Here’s the scoop.

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UK-based billion-dollar MSP Logicalis has announced the acquisition Network Infrastructure Corporation (NIC), an American service provider with clients in the K-12 education, state and local government, and gaming and hospitality verticals. Here’s the scoop.

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Hewlett-Packard is pushing deeper into the enterprise managed services market — launching a series of remote monitoring and proactive services. Strangely, HP isn’t using the managed services term to describe the effort — which is dubbed HP Next Generation Customer Support Experience. And here’s another twist: Apparently, it’s going to take HP 12 to 18 months to fully roll out the enterprise managed services. Here’s the update.

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Sometimes, it’s easy to tell ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini and President David Bellini are certified public accountants. The latest tip-off: ConnectWise has introduced a specialize PSA software financing offer that delivers potential tax savings to new MSP and VAR customers who run the software on-premise. Here’s the update.

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While MSPmentor has been watching the convergence of managed services and cloud computing, the rest of the world has been watching the news unfold around controversial governmental whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks and their recent ejection from Amazon EC2 following a string of DDOS attacks. But the two concepts meet in a short, but thoughtful, essay by Parallels’ Joshua Beil on what the WikiLeaks story means for cloud and hosted service providers. Here are some highlights.

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Cloud management solution vendor Abiquo has completed a $10 million round of Series B funding led by new investor Balderton Capital, with existing VCs Nauta Capital and Eurecan also participating. Here’s some insight.

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In recent weeks I’ve heard from some key visionaries who work in the managed services market. The topic of Microsoft Office 365 keeps popping up during the discussions. I can’t sugar coat what I’ve heard. Despite Microsoft’s best efforts to promote a channel-friendly cloud strategy, the forthcoming Office 365 launch has quite a few MSPs concerned about the end game in the SMB software market. But I wonder: Should Office 365 really trigger so much fear, uncertainty and doubt in the IT channel? Here are some thoughts.

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Nobody enjoys death — especially when it involves killing a product or service that you really love. But let’s face it: Sometimes we cling far too long to a “promising” service or solution that makes us “a little money.” Instead, we should be focusing our resources on new services that make us far more money and generate far more customer loyalty. Let me give you an example involving our own company, plus four lessons MSPs can learn  from our experience.

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LabtechCloud, an independent company that hosts Labtech software for MSPs, has changed its name to TechlabCloud. The move should help to eliminate potential branding confusion between Labtech (the software company) and the former LabtechCloud (an independent hosting partner). Here’s the update.

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As the managed services industry prepares for 2011, some software companies are striving to become more transparent — offering more frequent disclosures about product roadmaps and cloud system status updates. The most recent example involves Kaseya, which has published a near-term product schedule. What prompted the disclosure? Here are some thoughts.

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Google’s cloud productivity strategy seems to revolve around controlling three key markets: the SMB, the educational institution, and the government agency. We hear a lot of success stories from the first two, but a recent Google Enterprise Blog post is one of the first to highlight the benefits of Google Apps for Government. In this instance, it’s Panama City talking about how going Google helped them open up their government to the people. Here’s some perspective.

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