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As he prepares for a quarterly company management meeting in Miami, Kaseya CEO Gerald Blackie sees plenty of upside — and a few challenges — awaiting the managed services industry.
“If we don’t shine as an industry [during the economic crisis] we’re missing the boat,” said Blackie. “Companies that enable new productivity and levels of efficiencies are more inclined to do well during a recession.”
Amy Katz (my business partner) and I sat down with Blackie on October 21 in Miami. During our conversation, Blackie expressed continued enthusiasm for managed services, but conceded smaller MSPs could face economic challenges.
Is Microsoft preparing a managed services platform for VARs? If an alleged email from Microsoft is legitimate, the answer is a very strong maybe.
According to the email — which has been posted in multiple managed services forums in recent days — Microsoft is conducting a research study to help evaluate a managed services-oriented product that has “yet to be launched in the market.”
Here’s the scoop.
Read More >
I’ve written roughly 600 blog entries about the managed services industry since January. Amazingly, I think I’ve mentioned Hewlett-Packard only once or twice along the way.
Is anybody else shocked by HP’s complete inability to articulate a managed services strategy? Dell has spent more than a year piecing together an MSP strategy and acquiring Silverback Technologies, Everdream and MessageOne.
HP’s response so far has been silence. That’s shocking. Here’s why.
First the news, then the party. That’s N-able’s strategy as the company announces N-central 6.7 this week and then hosts its worldwide partner summit October 22 to 24 in Dallas, Texas.
N-central 6.7, I believe, reinforces a key shift in the managed services market. The MSP landscape has moved beyond managed PCs, laptops and servers. Going forward, MSPs will increasingly manage all IP devices — from switches and routers to printers and smart phones.
At first glance, managing all IP devices is an old story. But take a closer look, and you’ll see quite a few new opportunities ahead.
Zenith Infotech has been briefing managed service providers about a range of new services from the company. In an October 1 blog entry, the folks at Everon Technology Services offer some perspectives regarding Zenith’s Data Center as a Service, Box Office and Data Center in a Rack efforts. Read More >
As part of its managed services push into New York, Dell posted the following information video on YouTube. It features Ted Colpo, director of SMB services marketing at Dell.
Whether you’re a Dell partner or a Dell rival, the video reveals how Dell is pitching managed services to SMBs. Colpo also mentions that the managed services are available direct from Dell — or through partners.
Dell Channel Chief Greg Davis continues to maintain an open door policy with managed service providers. In a September 26 blog post, Davis describes Dell’s strategy for:
The MSPAlliance and Microsoft are working together on a reciprocal relationship, reports Redmond Channel Partner. As part of the relationship, Microsoft will promote the MSPAlliance’s Accreditation exam to channel partners worldwide. Likewise, companies that hold a Microsoft IT certification will receive credit for that expertise if/when they take the MSPAlliance’s Accreditation exam, according to the report.
The MSPAlliance is hosting its Managed Services Summit in Chicago this week. In the meantime, I’ve reached out to MSPAlliance President Charles Weaver for more information about the Microsoft-MSPAlliance relationship.
Here is Redmond Channel Partner’s original report about the Microsoft-MSPAlliance relationship.
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