MSPmentor

Sophos, the security software company, is preparing to promote cloud solutions to managed services providers (MSPs) later this year, according to Emmanuelle Skala, VP of global channels and sales operations as Sophos. It’s the latest example of a potential MSP land grab among anti-virus and endpoint security companies.

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Security software provider Sophos is willing to consider potential acquisitions in the storage market, according to Senior VP Michael McGuinness. During a Sophos partner conference today in Las Vegas, the company described a “complete security” strategy that includes endpoint security, unified threat management (UTM), mobile device management (MDM), encryption, and other services for VARs and MSPs. It’s still hypothetical, but storage could be an interesting addition to that long-term strategy.

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The varied benefits cloud computing offers SMBs have been cited many times by many people: increased flexibility, reduced overhead, extended accessibility of applications and data. However, a new survey of SMBs in the US and Asia by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) shows another benefit cloud services can deliver to SMBs: improved security.

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Kaspersky Lab, the endpoint security software company, has quietly beta tested a managed services partner program with seven channel partners. Now, Kaspersky is opening up the MSP partner program to VARs and MSPs that attended this week’s 2012 North American Partner Conference in the Bahamas. Here’s what’s next.

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Kaspersky Lab, the anti-virus and endpoint security company, is preparing to work far more closely with managed services providers (MSPs). Indeed, Chris Doggett (pictured), VP of channel sales, North America, is expected to address Kaspersky Lab’s partner program for MSPs during a partner conference session on May 12. Here’s a preview.

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If you’re an IT manager at your company, what are your responsibilities? Have your duties changed over the past few years? Do you find yourself dealing with issues that other IT managers do not? With the increase of smart mobile devices and remote connection tools, IT managers must constantly develop new strategies to adapt to new IT environments. According to a recent LANDesk Software survey, IT professionals are still finding management and security problems in the workplace from mobile devices.

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Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) has launched an API (application programming interface) that could help MSPs working in the unified communications and VoIP markets, according to Richard McLeod (pictured), senior director of business development. Cisco is positioning the API for CIOs and businesses that want to fight voice fraud. But a closer look suggests the Cisco API could help MSPs to optimize customers’ voice networks and UC applications.

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Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) has delivered yet another offering specifically for the MSP market, this time releasing Symantec  Endpoint Protection Management Plug-in 1.5 for Kaseya software, available at no cost for Symantec registered partners. The move follows the company’s release of Symantec Backup Exec as a Kaseya plugin last year, capping off nearly  a year of Symantec wooing the MSP community.

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When the Kaseya Connect 2012 User Conference kicks off this week (May 1-4, Las Vegas), it’s safe to expect the managed services and IT automation event to focus on at least five technology categories for MSPs: (1) Business management and automation software, (2) cloud backup and disaster recovery services, (3) infrastructure management, (4) managed print services and (5) cloud security and managed security services. Here’s a closer look at each category.

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Data protection management vendor Bocada has introduced Bocada VPconnect , an integrated solution for managing virtual and physical data protection environments. The solution combines Bocada’s Vision module for virtual environments and Bocada’s Prism module for physical environments and correlates  all data protection results, something that Bocada’s CEO says is critical for MSPs’ need to keep costs down.

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Mobile devices provide SMBs with substantial benefits in terms of lower overhead costs, ease of extending the corporate network, and allowing employees greater flexibility in when and where they work. However, as indicated by newly released results of a study from mobile security provider Mobilisafe, mobile devices also expose SMBs to some severe risks.

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Mac users faced something recently that they may have considered themselves impervious to — a malware attack. It’s big news this week that half a million Mac computers have been infected. Apple acknowledged that a recent version of a malicious software called Flashback exploits a Java security flaw to install itself on Apple Mac computers. Apple said it is is developing software that will detect and remove the Flashback malware.

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Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) continues to invest in the Intel Hybrid Cloud strategy, which allows MSPs to promote server software and services on a pay-as-you-go basis to customers. But the really interesting part of the Intel Hybrid Cloud effort involves Intel AppUp — a small business service catalog that includes a growing portfolio of applications that MSPs can offer to their end-customers.

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Five years ago not many people, not even the heads of giant corporations, could have predicted the huge success that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) would enjoy, not only in the consumer market, but also as its devices — the iPhone and the iPad — made their way onto corporate networks.  It wasn’t even something that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had predicted. But Apple has been building on that success. And although the company isn’t known as one that is particularly channel friendly, more MSPs and VARs are considering partnering with Apple, in some way or another.

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Everybody’s talking about Dell’s (NASDAQ:DELL) recent acquisition spree – five since the beginning of 2012 and three of those in the last week. From AppAssure to SonicWall to Wyse to Clerity Solutions to Make Technologies. And that adds to a whole bunch of acquisitions in the last year including SecureWorks which was recently recognized by Forrester Research as one of the leaders among big managed security service providers. Forrester particularly cited Dell Secureworks for the quality of its consultants and engineers.

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Richard Fleischman & Associates (RFA), a provider of information technology (IT) solutions for financial service companies, has announced a new mobile device management (MDM) product. This MDM technology will be the fifth product offered in RFA’s Security Suite, which aims to provide comprehensive data protection from internal as well as external threats.

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The top concern enterprises have when it comes to mobile device management (MDM) can be summed up in a word: Security.

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Tasktop Technologies, the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) solution provider for MSPs, has developed Tasktop Studio Sync. The new solution is intended to give the companies’ MSP partners and business customers an easier way to connect, configure and maintain their large-scale ALM infrastructures. The development comes during the same week that Tasktop developed a new version of Tasktop Dev specifically for HP.

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Cloud and Software-as-a-Service specialist intY is bringing its Cascade cloud application aggregation platform to MSPs in the United States.

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Earlier this month we brought you news from Gorilla Logic, the Quality-as-a-Service (QaaS) platform provider for the enterprise that released two new solutions aimed at accelerating application development and testing. One was the Gorilla Logic Continuous QA Cloud, and MonkeyTalk, which the company says helps accelerate the development of mobile applications.

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The third-generation Apple iPad is available at Apple Stores today. For consumers, it’s a new Apple product that they will no doubt grab off the shelves (or purchase online) at a rapid pace. But for businesses, or more specifically for business IT departments and MSPs, the new iPad is another product that they must support and manage from a security perspective. And According to Amtel CEO PJ Gupta, the new iPad presents new issues for IT departments to grapple with. The most glaring of all? Added bandwidth.

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Virtela, which provides managed network, security and cloud services, has extended the reach of its IT automation and predictive analytics platform to include support for data centers and for private cloud environments.

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Cormant Inc., an IT infrastructure management provider for the enterprise, is trying to build on its 2011 momentum. The software provider increased both its revenue and international enterprise business customer base last fiscal year. Now Cormant has released the newest version of its CableSolve IT management platform with several new features, including (you guessed it) more mobile device support.

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