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Memo to Dell: Include Partner Messaging in Everdream Webinars
Posted April 10th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
My email inbox today had a Webinar invite from Dell. The company on April 22 plans to educate corporate customers about Everdream, a remote administration and asset management tool for PCs and mobile systems.
Where Are The Managed Services IPOs?
Posted April 8th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
If the managed service market is so darn hot, when can we expect MSP platform providers to begin launching initial public offerings?
Managed Services Meet Ubuntu Linux?
Posted March 4th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
A new tool for remotely managing Linux desktops and servers will debut on March 5. At first glance, the tool is for enterprise administrators who want to remotely manage and troubleshoot PCs and servers running Ubuntu Linux. But if you take a closer look, you can imagine the tool — dubbed Landscape — evolving into a potential managed services platform for businesses that embrace open source.
Kaseya Goes Broad and Deep
Posted March 1st, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Competition drives innovation. A case in point: Because the PC market is now wide-open to competition (Windows, Mac OS, Linux), managed service platform providers are working overtime to support customer choice. Kaseya’s latest platform release, for instance, embraces Intel vPro technology and Mac OS X. Going broad with Intel support and deep with Mac OS X support creates some compelling opportunities for MSPs. Here’s why.
What’s Hot — And What’s Not — In Managed Services
Posted February 29th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Economic concerns continue in the US, but some clear IT spending trends are beginning to surface. If you look at recent financial results from networking companies, PC companies, software specialists and service providers, you can get a better feel for how to shape your managed services practice for the rest of 2008.
Sector: Networking
The Upshot: Networking companies aren’t so hot. Nortel is struggling and even the mighty Cisco has expressed concerns about IT spending in selected markets. MSPmentor recommendations: Go deep in hot networking segments rather than broad. Check out Cisco’s intuitive “price per user per day” strategy, which could help you shape your managed services pitch to customers. Also, begin to explore how open source may impact network managed services. Digium’s latest quality guarantee to partners could help to accelerate demand for Asterisk, an open source IP telephony platform that’s gaining popularity in the managed services space. Also, begin to investigate how you can optimize specific applications for better network performance. F5 Networks, in particular, is attracting attention in that area.
Sector: Software as a Service
The Upshot: Salesforce.com just had a blowout quarter, some major enterprises are beginning to embrace Google Apps (an online software suite) for daily applications, and some pundits say SaaS is immune to an economic slowdown. We don’t think that’s the case, but we do believe SaaS continue to deliver new opportunities. MSPmentor recommendations: Start to explore how the SaaS and managed services sectors are converging. Level Platforms CEO Peter Sandiford provided some perspective in this guest blog entry.
Sector: Traditional Software
The Upshot: Skeptics like SugarCRM CEO Johnathan Roberts will tell you traditional software is dead, and open source is the way to go. But recent financials from Microsoft suggest otherwise. MSPmentor recommendations: Explore how traditional applications are moving into SaaS settings. One prime example is Microsoft Dynamics, which plenty of VARs are starting to host for customers.
Sector: Storage
The Upshot: Big, established technology companies — like EMC and Symantec — are moving into the storage-as-a-service market. This is a clear signal that storage as a service has reached critical mass, and should now be a basic offering in every MSP’s toolkit. MSPmentor recommendations: Get sophisticated. Push beyond backup and restore to focus on contingency planning and disaster recovery services. And keep your mind open as nimble storage specialists introduce managed storage partner programs. Vembu, for one, comes to mind. Also, check out third-party storage services that you can plug into. Amazon.com’s Simple Storage Service is turning some heads.
Sector: Security
The Upshot: Continues to be a hot sell, but you need to push beyond traditional anti-virus, anti-spyware solutions. MSPmentor recommendations: Read up on PCI compliance. Much like Sarbanes-Oxley a few years ago, PCI is the hot compliance topic of today. Looking ahead, many customers will insist that their MSPs offer PCI-compliant services. Here’s some more background on PCI for MSPs.
Sector: Open Source
The Upshot: Even long-struggling Novell, provider of SuSE Linux, is now raising its revenue estimates for 2008. But don’t limit your open source thoughts to Linux. MSPmentor recommendations: Begin to understand how open source is shaping managed security services (example partner: Untangle), managed VoIP, and hosted databases and hosted applications like SugarCRM.
Google Apps and SaaS: The Office of Tomorrow?
Posted February 25th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
If you’re still skeptical about managed services and software as a service (SaaS), spend a day at Long Island’s Hofstra University. Roughly 13,000 Hofstra students have access to Google Apps Education Edition to collaborate online, according to Robert W. Juckiewicz, Hofstra’s VP of IT.
Emerging Managed Services Opportunity: TelePresence Sales Doubling Annually
Posted February 21st, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
TelePresence, the next-generation video conferencing technology, is slowly catching on with big customers. But it could be a few more years before TelePresence becomes a mainstream opportunity for managed service providers. First, the good news: Hewlett-Packard says its Halo video conferencing deployments have been doubling annually since the product’s launch in 2005, according to Reuters. And as new TelePresence systems go in, customers will need managed service providers to deliver related bandwidth optimization services.
Understanding the Managed Services Hype Cycle
Posted February 13th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Some pundits say managed services will become a commodity. I disagree. Managed services are not a single technology. Rather, managed service provider (MSP) platforms are a way to continually deliver new solutions to customers.
TelePresence Meets Managed Services
Posted February 12th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
As video moves onto IP networks, managed service providers are exploring new opportunities in TelePresence — the next-generation video conferencing systems that bring distant parties together into a single virtual conference room. Here’s how TelePresence and managed services will converge in 2008 and beyond.
Xerox Pitches PagePack Managed Services
Posted February 7th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Roughly 90 percent of companies don’t know what they’re spending on printing, according to Kenneth D. Winters, a business advisor for Xerox’s North American Partners Group. To help VARs and customers quantify and better manage those costs, Xerox continues to evangelize its PagePack managed printer service.
Microsoft Trains Partners to Master Managed Services
Posted February 7th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Independent software vendors (ISVs) have always been the lifeblood of Microsoft’s business. But these days, Microsoft is maintaining a careful balancing act — promoting software as a service (SaaS) directly to customers while also recruiting managed service providers to assist the effort.
Digital Signage Meets Managed Services
Posted February 6th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
During a recent stop at Dunkin’ Donuts (my daily coffee run), I noticed new digital signage promoting local businesses and special offers for coffee. It dawned on me that digital signage is a great opportunity for managed service providers. Sure, you can sell Plasma TVs and large LCD screens to businesses, but the real money is in monthly content management services for those screens.
Presenting the Top 100 Managed Service Providers: The MSPmentor 100
Posted January 27th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
The MSPmentor 100 — our look at 100 of the world’s top managed service providers — is now available for your review. Before you dive into the list and the associated charts, here’s some background on how MSPmentor and its parent, Nine Lives Media Inc., pulled together this managed services report.
SugarCRM: The Next Big SaaS IPO?
Posted January 20th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
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).
Distributors Embrace Software as a Service
Posted January 15th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
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.
Managed Services Meet Retail Customers
Posted January 14th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
The retail sector is converging with the managed services sector this week. At the National Retail Federation show in New York, a savvy solutions provider has launched a managed broadband service that promises to modernize retail IT infrastructure. Here’s a look at the solution, and the managed service provider (MSP) behind it.
WiMAX Specialist Jumps Into Managed Storage
Posted January 10th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Broadband providers continue to push into the managed services sector. The latest example: NextPhase Wireless, which intends to roll out WiMAX networks across the 48 contiguous US states, is now launching online backup services for businesses of all sizes.
Add Video Surveillance to Your Managed Services Portfolio
Posted January 10th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Last fall I predicted that video surveillance would emerge as a hot managed service in 2008. Two pieces of anecdotal information are now backing up my prediction.
Managed Expenses Meet Managed Services
Posted January 10th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
As many of our readers know, MSPmentor’s owner (Nine Lives Media Inc.) likes to outsource as many functions as possible. Just yesterday, our team was talking about managing and coordinating monthly expense reports. By the time I got back to my office, I had a message in my inbox about BT launching a Web Expenses tool for small businesses. Seems like Software as a Service (SaaS) continues to converge with managed services — which is good news for small businesses.
Untangle Signs Up 60 Managed Service Providers
Posted January 4th, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Imaging melding open source, security, managed services and a channel program into a single company. At first glance, that’s a pretty compelling strategy. But plenty of open source companies have fallen on their faces when they tried to build channel programs.
Get Ready for Managed Video Service Providers (MVSPs)
Posted December 18th, 2007 by Joe Panettieri
Just what the tech world needs: Another acronym. Although I try to steer clear of technology jargon, the term “managed video service provider” (MVSP) caught my eye today. Applied Global Technologies is launching an end-to-end video collaboration service called PerfectMeetings. The announcement mentioned several trends involving MVSPs.
Managed Services Vs. A Recession
Posted November 27th, 2007 by Joe Panettieri
Back in October, I asked readers if managed services could help VARs to better weather an economic slowdown. The overwhelming response from readers was “yes.” Now, MSP University is asking the same question again. And the blog entry, written by Erick Simpson, offers some compelling thoughts about MSPs thriving during weak economies. Take a look at MSP University’s perspective here.
Seven Lessons From the Dell-Everdream Deal
Posted November 15th, 2007 by Joe Panettieri
As you likely heard, Dell is acquiring Everdream, the software-as-a-service and managed service platform provider. I firmly believe this will be part of a growing trend in 2008. Here are seven key lessons and considerations to keep in mind as Dell digests Everdream.
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