MSPmentor

Call it a small step for the managed services market, but a significant move for the Utility Company. The Master MSP, which works with a range of managed services providers, has attracted $1 million in financing, led by BDC Capital Inc. The Utility Company plans to use the money for a mid-market push, among other things. Here are the details.

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Earlier today, I raised five key questions about the hosted Exchange and hosted Unified Communications markets. Now, I’ve gathered a few answers to those questions at the Intermedia Partner Summit in Silicon Valley. Here are some clues about how VARs and MSPs are transitioning their hosted Exchange strategies.

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Kaseya has launched a global Software as a Service partner program. Known as KSP (Kaseya SaaS Partner Program), the initiative allows partners to “promote, refer and market” Kaseya’s SaaS and IT offerings to their respective channels. It’s easy to see what’s in it for Kaseya. The bigger question: What’s in it for partners? And what are the implications for the broader managed services software market? Here are some thoughts.

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Cloud storage vendor Nomadesk has launched a partner program, providing VARs a solution to integrate off-site backups into desktop operating systems as if they were additional hard drives. Here are some details about the program.

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ConnectWise around January 25 is expected to launch ConnectWise Capital — a $20 million initiative that seeks to “incubate innovation” across the IT channel. I’ve got a few dozen thoughts about the move, which will involve multiple companies. But let’s start with the news…

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Zenith Infotech has introduced a Certified Partner Reseller (CPR) program to help managed services providers and VARs recruit new business customers. Here’s a quick overview of the effort — which also provides some clues about Zenith Infotech’s private cloud strategy.

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Whether you call it online backup or managed storage, the market for SaaS-oriented storage solutions is intensifying. The latest news involves N-able Technologies partnering with Intronis. But each time I check my inbox there seems to be a new pitch about MSPs and managed storage. Here are six questions MSPs should ask before making an online backup decision.

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If any part of the managed services field is growing, we’re told over and over, it’s security. To that end, WatchGuard Technologies, a Seattle-based SaaS security firm that specializes in enterprise-grade firewall appliances, has launched a newly enhanced Managed Security Services Program (MSSP). No surprise, it’s designed to help their MSP partners make more money selling more WatchGuard services to more clients. Here’s the scoop.

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As a former help-desk technician, I have some strong opinions about managed print services (MPS). Channel chatter about the MPS market is growing louder. More MPS conferences are planned, more research is surfacing and our third-annual MSPmentor 100 survey reveals some interesting MPS trends. So where is managed print heading next? Here are some clues.

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The IT channel, it seems, is converging in Orlando the week of Nov. 2. We’ve already offered previews of the HTG Peer Group gathering and ConnectWise Partner Summit. But don’t forget: Symantec will be in town for Symantec Partner Engage… and it’s safe to bet that Symantec could unveil some SaaS surprises for VARs and managed service providers. Here’s why.

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Cisco Systems’ overhauled managed services partner program is set to launch September 1. I expect to have a deeper briefing with Cisco within the next 24 hours or so. But in the meantime, here are some initial perspectives on Cisco’s MSP partner strategy.

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As Hewlett-Packard, Oki Data and other IT vendors push deeper into the managed print services (MPS) market, some managed service providers are making plans for a managed print conference in Europe. Here are some quick details and bigger-picture perspectives.

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Plenty of managed service providers want to host Microsoft applications or push into software as a service (SaaS). Now, there’s a partner program — called Microsoft Communication Services — to help MSPs get started. The big question: Is the partner program designed for smaller MSPs? Or does it funnel more recurring revenue opportunities to Comcast? Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.

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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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When it comes to managed services partnerships, Tech Data’s strategy can be summed up in four words: The more the merrier. The big distributor has inked an MSP platform partnership with Zenith Infotech. The deal comes only a few weeks after Tech Data partnered to offer managed print services.

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After a year of anticipation, Symantec finally launched its managed service/software-as-a-service platform today. The Symantec Protection Network (SPN) initially supports storage services, with security services expected to arrive later this year or sometime in 2009.

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For the second time in a week, I’m hearing buzz about managed service providers working more closely with Amazon.com’s Simple Storage Service (also known as Amazon S3). For MSPs, the trick is embracing a reliable back-end storage service without mitigating your own brand in the 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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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.

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I’ve got to admit, I was a bit skeptical about managed print services in mid-2007. Are managed service providers really interested? Do customers truly understand hardware as a service? After watching and reporting on this market over the past six months, I think managed print services are for real, with heavy hitters like Tech Data and Xerox aggressively promoting managed hardware services.

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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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Generally speaking, managed service providers are less dependent on IT vendors than traditional VARs, according to Larry Kesslin, president of 4 Profit, a consulting firm to channel companies. Kesslin shared the observation during Cisco Velocity, a marketing summit for about 200 Cisco partners this week in Miami.

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Circle the date: Dell is inviting partners and MSPs to participate in a major channel briefing on December 5. During the teleconference, Greg Davis, VP and GM of Dell’s Americas Channel Group, will discuss Dell’s long-term vision for working with partners, and he’ll announce Dell’s latest channel plans. The call runs 1:15 to 2:15pm eastern. You can join in by visiting here.

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