MSPmentor

LPI Level Platforms Inc. says it has enhanced and simplified its partner program to help managed service providers (MSPs) go to market more quickly and effectively.

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There’s nothing like healthy competition to keep a market growing globally. In recent days, managed service platform providers have been busy leapfrogging each other with new announcements about their international efforts and milestones.

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N-able, the managed service platform provider, is looking to make a splash in Australia. Smart move. A few weeks ago, MSPmentor described how the managed services market is growing more than 20 percent annually in Australia. And N-able CEO Gavin Garbutt (pictured) estimates that there are nearly 2 million small and midsize businesses in Australia, providing fertile ground for managed service providers. Here’s how N-able — and some of its rivals — hope to grow that market.

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It wasn’t long ago that adopting managed services was a considered to be a pretty scary proposition. You had to build a NOC (whatever a NOC is – but we will leave that to another discussion), spend $50,000 (U.S. dollars) or more on software, turn your business upside down (or go out of business in case you missed the point!), move from low-risk time and materials to high-risk fixed price billing, replace most of your sales team and technicians and of course obey the obligatory command to “fire your customers” that enjoyed the old way of doing business with you.

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The managed services ecosystem continues to mature rapidly, as platform providers and software-as-a-service (SaaS) specialists ink new partnerships that extend their respective offerings. The latest case in point: Online backup specialist CompuVault Inc. is now a certified vendor for Level Platforms’ MSP offering. Here’s how the deal fits into the larger MSP picture.

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There’s good news for MSPmentor’s growing readership in Australia. Demand for managed security services in that country will grow 20 percent annually through 2013, predicts Frost & Sullivan, a market research firm. Much like Frost & Sullivan, we’re watching the Australia market closely. And for good reason.

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While the mainstream media focuses on Microsoft-Yahoo today, I’d like to drill down into a rather interesting trend involving Microsoft, managed services and SaaS (software as a service). Seems like Microsoft Dynamics, the company’s ERP offering, is emerging as a platform for managed service providers to potentially host and offer to customers. Here’s why.

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Even amid a questionable economy, John Roberts (pictured) sounds upbeat. As CEO of SugarCRM, Roberts leads one of Silicon Valley’s fastest-growing open source software providers. But that’s not all. SugarCRM also offers its software as a service (SaaS).

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Distributors spent 2007 telling me about their managed services strategies. Now, they’re back — this time, telling me about their software as a service (SaaS) strategies. It’s the latest example of SaaS and managed services converging with each other.  Skeptical? Check out the latest news from Avnet, which is launching a SaaS initiative in the email and groupware sector.

Avnet Technology Solutions has launched OneTech Hosted Exchange  Services, which allows VARs to offer managed email services to their customers. The service, according to an Avnet release, includes hosted mailboxes, secure mail  delivery, compliance, filtering and oversight, message archiving, message  availability, mobile device support, and anti-spam and anti-virus protection. The system also features audit trails to ensure corporate compliance.

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The VAR Guy just awoke from an extended nap, which started sometime before Christmas. While he waits for his new Web site to launch — at www.thevarguy.com (update: it’s live now) — he decided to jump onto MSPmentor.net.

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The spirit of former Novell CEO Ray Noorda lives on in the managed services market. In the late 1980s, Noorda coined the term “coopetition” — which described rival technology companies that competed but also cooperated to grow a market.

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You know the drill: It’s the end of the year. Time for some predictions to stir some reader debate and feedback. Here’s a look at where I see the managed services market going in 2008. Agree? Disagree? I’m all ears.

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The MSP Alliance continues to build out its Vendor Advisory Board. Next to join is Autotask CEO Bob Godgart (pictured), we hear. The Godgart announcement should come in a few days or so. So, how will MSP Alliance differ from the MSP Partner organization? We received some thoughts from MSP Alliance CEO Charles Weaver. Here’s a look.

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Gavin Garbutt, CEO of N-able Technologies, is on a role. Last week, he strolled around N-able’s Ottawa offices displaying an award from Deloitte, ranking N-able among the 500 fastest growing companies in North America. Now, he’s been named the first executive member of the MSP Alliance’s (MSPA) new Vendor Advisory Board. But what does the working relationship between N-able and MSP Alliance mean to other platform providers?

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Hi Folks. Thanks for visiting. Just a few quick updates on MSPmentor.net’s progress. We launched this site — a beta version — in late September. Since that time, several thousand VARs and managed services providers have visited MSPmentor.net. Here’s where we’re taking our growing reader base next.

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This just in: Do IT Smarter has selected LPI Level Platforms’ Collaborative Ecosystem MSP Platform to “drive the growth of their full service offering for solution providers,” according to press release that just hit the wires. The move reinforces several points raised by Do IT Smarter at today’s MSP Alliance conference in San Jose.

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