First off, Hartco Distribution is branch of Hartco Inc., a three-decade old Canadian IT services provider that will give N-able a trusted name to attach to when pursuing Canadian MSP customers. Hartco has more than 50 established, physical locations throughout Canada and serves a range of businesses, from SMBs to enterprise. So by partnering with Hartco, N-able will be able to expand the use of its RMM software throughout different-sized business markets in Canada.

As part of the partnership, N-able will have direct access to Hartco’s entire network of IT solution providers. The real beneficiaries of the N-able – Hartco partnership will be Hartco affiliates who will now be able to leverage all of N-able’s RMM solutions, including the N-central RMM platform.

N-able has big plans for the Canadian market, which N-able will heavily focus on in 2012. And even though Hartco’s reach gives N-able the opportunity to target larger companies, N-able will hone in on MSPs serving the SMB market. Cullen claims that the majority of the 1 million-plus SMBs in Canada are not managing their networks with an RMM platform. Translation? N-able wants to be the go-to RMM provider for SMBs throughout Canada, and it wants to develop relationships with Canadian managed service providers looking to provide an RMM software solution to its SMB customers.

One big benefit that N-able can now market to SMBs and MSPs in Canada? A new cloud-based help desk solution courtesy of its recent partnership with NTRglobal. N-able will also give Business e-Traning Essentials, Technical e-Training Essentials, Instructor-Led Product Training, Professional Services and other benefits to Canadian MSPs who buy an N-central license in order to help them better understand how to market and sell the RMM solution.

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Level Platforms’ new MDM feature will make its debut in mid-February when the RMM software company embarks upon its 2012 Global Road Show. And when it does, the MDM solution will allow the software provider’s customers to monitor and manage business networks from Apple, Google, Microsoft and RIM smartphones and tablets. Level Platforms managed service provider customers will be able to access this new MDM feature through their existing RMM dashboards via the new Level Platforms Mobile Service Manager that will be pre-packaged in Managed Workplace 2012.

Once a customer installs the new MDM software on a mobile device, they will be able to use that device to collect asset information, remotely configure devices, track location and restrict user access to business networks upon request. And if a device is lost or stolen, MSPs can remotely wipe, lock, or completely reset the device. In the end, Level Platforms hopes its MDM solution will give its MSP customers a complete RMM solution to add to their existing managed services offerings that will help them accelerate their revenue growth.

The news of Level Platforms’ new MDM capabilities comes about two weeks after the RMM software provider introduced its new NOC and help desk services. Shortly thereafter, N-able Technologies, another major RMM software provider, partnered with NTRglobal to offer a cloud-based help desk service. Then N-able made a regional expansion move by partnering with Hartco Distribution in order to target MSPs and SMBs in Canada. Now comes new of Level Platforms new MDM software offering included in Managed Workplace 2012. It’s a major RMM development, but it definitely won’t be the last we hear from Level Platforms, N-able or other RMM providers.

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For inclusion in the Magic Quadrant for Client Management Tools, Gartner says vendor solutions were considered based on the following functions:

• Data/Settings Migration;
• Inventory;
• OS Deployment;
• Patch Management;
• Remote Control;
• Software Usage;
• SW Packaging & Distribution;
• Power Management.
• Mobile Device Management was another component, along with Application and Desktop Virtualization.

Who’s Included?

That lengthy list pretty much describes the remote management capabilities that VARs and MSPs require. The Gartner report covers such technology companies as:

• Absolute Software
• BMC Software
• CA Technologies
• Dell Kace
• FrontRange
• HP
• IBM
• Kaseya
• LANDesk
• Matrix42
• Microsoft
• Novell
• Numara (now owned by BMC Software)
• Symantec

Gartner organizes those vendors into this Magic Quadrant grid:

How About SMB Remote Management Tools?

Alas, many MSP-centric software providers aren’t covered in the Client Management Tools report. I’m curious to know if Gartner has a separate report or Magic Quadrant for SMB remote monitoring and management tools, in particular.

Of the vendors listed above, only Kaseya and Microsoft (Windows Intune) have SMB-centric solutions, according to Gartner. And Kaseya is the only vendor mentioned as to having a managed services provider (MSP) focus.

Slightly Wrong on Kaseya?

Also, I don’t exactly agree with Gartner’s analysis of Kaseya, which states:

“Kaseya is a relatively new player in the client management space. The company has existed since 2000, but has focused mainly on selling its product through managed service providers, rather than directly to IT organizations. The company has shifted its focus in the last two years, and is now used by IT organizations to manage their internal environments.”

Huh? I believe Kaseya has sold direct into IT organizations for at least five years. (MSPmentor launched in beta in September 2007; I didn’t track the market before that point.) I also believe Kaseya lost a bit of its focus on the MSP market in 2010, but began to sharpen its MSP focus again in mid- to late-2011.

Gartner’s Conclusions  on Kaseya

Gartner praises Kaseya in three areas and questions the company in three areas.

• The praise includes: Applause for Kaseya’s SaaS approach on inventory and patch management; mobile device management for Apple iOS and Android; and extensions like PC backup and system performance monitoring.
• The cautions include: Immature Mac management capabilities; lack of application virtualization support (Microsoft App-V and VMware ThinApp) and potentially weak reporting capabilities.

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Requires Coverage

I don’t always agree with the Gartner Magic Quadrant. And I worry about all the “hype” about which vendors are in the Magic Quadrant. But it would be great to see a list of MSP-centric software companies, along with strengths and cautions listed for each platform.

Does such a Magic Quadrant exist for RMM (remote monitoring and management) software providers?

(Side note: The Gartner Client Management Tools Magic Quadrant replaces the Magic Quadrant for PC Configuration Life Cycle Management due to the emergence of mobile device and Mac management needs. Smartphones, tablets, Macs, virtual desktops and virtual applications all represent emerging targets of management.)

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So how did GFI Software gain critical mass in the managed services market? In some ways, it started with the 2009 buyout of HoundDog Technology Ltd., a small but fast-growing SaaS company. At the time, HoundDog’s customer base included more than 1,700 IT service providers — mostly located in Europe. Alistair Forbes joined GFI as part of the HoundDog acquisition — and he’s been driving the company’s managed services software and partner strategy ever since.

The results sound impressive: Forbes says GFI now has 5,000 MSPs worldwide, and North America deployments are now outpacing European deployments, which also continue to grow rapidly. Plus, GFI’s MSP base sounds healthy. According to a recent survey, 50 percent of GFI MAX partners say their biggest priority in 2012 is to grow their business and market share — or to get organized to drive future growth. Plus, 78 percent of GFI’s MSPs are discussing cloud services with customers.

Behind the Numbers

Still, I’m always a little wary when vendors publish their installed base figures. A key question: Are the 5,000 GFI customers truly MSPs — or does that 5,000 figure include a range of resellers and VARs who really don’t have recurring revenue businesses?

Forbes concedes that “some” of the 5,000 figure likely includes small MSPs that are dipping their toes into the managed services market. But he insists that the GFI MAX installed base is not a break-fix reseller audience. GFI has MSPs that have hundreds of end-customers, Forbes added. “Our growth rate, if anything, is accelerating rather than slowing down,” he said. “We’re now on the same playing field as all the household names in the MSP [software] market.”

Piecing It Together

But how did GFI MAX grow its installed base so rapidly since the HoundDog acquisition in 2009? Forbes points to the company’s integration strategy.  “It’s all done from a single console, and that’s compelling to MSPs.” He also noted that GFI Max offers business support materials to MSPs.

Although MSPmentor does not track market share figures in the MSP software area, here’s an interesting stat: Roughly 9 percent of the MSPs completing our fifth-annual MSPmentor 100 survey said they run GFI MAX — a healthy figure in the highly fragmented world of MSP software. The complete MSPmentor 100 survey results will be unveiled February 15, 2012.

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“Only about 10 percent of all IT is located in a third-party facility,” said Schroepfer, apparently suggesting that 90 percent of IT remains on-premises. “We’d like to have that other 90 percent.”

Still Schroepfer was not suggesting that Rackspace will go after the entire on-premises managed services market. Instead, initial Rackspace remote monitoring customers will involve specific IT platforms — such as Dell running the Citrix Xen Hyporvisor.

Without mentioning too many details about the forthcoming remote monitoring service, Schroepfer spoke highly of CA Technology’s remote monitoring and management tools. It begged the question: Is Rackspace preparing a business that leverages Nimsoft, the remote monitoring platform that CA acquired more than a year ago?

I’m not sure. But it sounds like one of the first Rackspace managed services customers will be X.commerce, which is a new business from eBay. And it sounds like much of the Rackspace managed services effort will focus on OpenStack-centric customers.

For MSPs serving the SMB market, I don’t think Rackspace’s remote monitoring services will reach that low into that market. But that’s just an educated guess — for now.

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The new release includes multiple enhancements but we’ll focus on the main two — monitoring support for Oracle JRockit and IBM Java Virtual Machine (JVM) environments.

The Oracle JRockit portfolio is a set of Java runtime solutions and, some pundits say, it is the fastest solution for standard Java. The portfolio includes Oracle JRockit Mission Control for monitoring, managing and troubleshooting Java apps; and the Oracle JRockit Real Time for low-latency. The IBM JVM provides the necessary support for Java application stacks.

ManageEngine IT customers using Oracle JRockit and/or IBM JVM can now use the Application Manager to track JVM performance, garbage collection time, heap memory, and to monitor application threads. Additionally, the Application Manager can create analysis reports of enterprise applications that include capacity planning, performance management and trend analysis. By adding support for the Oracle and IBM environments, ManageEngine now offers monitoring support for all major JVMs on the market.

The new version of the Application Manager comes just days after ManagEngine integrated its MSP Center Plus solution with Zoho Reports. And all of the above enhancements and integrations are part of ManageEngine’s larger plan to develop a fully-integrated IT operations offering for MSPs.

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Paessler said the biggest improvement involves VMware vSphere 5 support because it addresses ESX 5, Virtual Center 5 and lets users see virtual machines (VMs) located inside of vApps. Plus, mobile browser support is enhanced. According to Paessler Founder and CEO Dirk Paessler, more and more of the company’s customers are already upgrading to vSphere 5 even before Paessler releases support for it.

“They [customers] want the ability to include these systems in their monitoring to ensure system operability,” Paessler said. “PRTG simply grows with their demands.”

On the mobile device side, the new version of PRTG supports the following mobile platforms:

• iOS 3.2
• Android 2.1/Honeycomb,
• BlackBerry 6
• Windows Phone 7
•  WebOS 1.4
• Meego
• Kindle 3
•  Firefox Mobile
• Opera Mobile 11

Over the next two weeks or so, we’ll be interested to hear the feedback PRTG gets from Cisco Live London attendees.

It seems like Paessler has been closely monitoring the mobile device usage trend of its customers and then responding accordingly. In December 2011, the company released its iPRTG 3.0 mobile network monitoring application for all iOS devices with editing, mapping and email capabilities, among other features.

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First, a bunch of disclaimers: I know ConnectWise, LabTech and Quosal each are best-known for their on-premises software platforms. Numerous PSA (professional services automation) and RMM (remote monitoring and management) software providers have larger cloud installed bases than ConnectWise and its investment-backed companies. And I realize ConnectWise suffered some cloud bumps from time to time.

A Longer-term Strategy

But here’s where things get interesting: When ConnectWise launched the ConnectWise Capital investment effort roughly two years ago, I thought the initial strategy was flawed. ConnectWise itself had a small (though growing) hosted presence at the time. And LabTech — one of the first ConnectWise Capital investments — had openly stated that it was an on-premise play, leaving potential partners to explore the hosting side of the equation.

My conclusion at the time: ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini was artificially limiting the valuation of his own company and the ConnectWise Capital companies. Think of it this way:

• In the past five years, scores of cloud and hosted software companies have attracted millions of dollars in venture capital. Plus, most of the major IT IPOs (initial public offerings) since 2007 or so have involved cloud and social media companies.
• In stark contrast, how many on-premises software companies have attracted big investment dollars on the way to a successful IPO in the past five years or so? Off the top of my head I can’t name any such players.

Cloud Comes Into Focus

Fast forward to the present and the ConnectWise cloud story is stronger. An educated guess: Quick math suggests cloud revenues alone are large enough to land ConnectWise quite high on the annual Inc. 5000 report, which tracks the most successful privately held companies in the U.S. Now, toss in the growing Quosal and LabTech cloud strategies and you’ve got an interesting strategy coming into focus. Over time, I suspect we’ll see the ConnectWise, Quosal and LabTech cloud services come closer and closer together — but that’s merely a hunch from me.

I realize the overall ConnectWise cloud strategy takes some hits from time to time. ConnectWise insists its software was designed for hosting during the ASP (application services provider) wave more than a decade ago. But some readers are quick to point out that rival Autotask built a successful $20 million business purely on the cloud, and ConnectWise was forced to respond. Moreover, Autotask CEO Mark Cattini — on the job about a year now — prefers to compare Autotask to Salesforce.com, NetSuite and other SaaS-centric players that have launched successful IPOs.

So where is ConnectWise ultimately heading next? Plenty of folks have asked me if CEO Arnie Bellini is planning an “exit” strategy or a potential IPO. I don’t have the answer. But I do know this: If the ConnectWise, Quosal and LabTech cloud platforms are gaining partners without diluting profitability, I suspect the valuation for ConnectWise and its portfolio companies continue to rise.

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Opengear claims claims the ACM5500 secure hardware agent lets MSPs monitor and control their customers’ network infrastructures, even behind firewalls, from desktops, mobile devices and at other customer sites, at a lower cost than other RMM solutions — though MSPmentor has not seen a head-to-head price comparison.

The ACM5500 also includes in-band and out-of-band gateways that give MSPs access to international remote sites. That, according to Opengear  Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and VP of Product Management John Bedrick, gives MSPs better control and better visibility into networks and physical environments.

“With Opengear’s secure RMM gateways, you can monitor and manage a variety of software applications, as well as network and environmental devices, ultimately resulting in a more secure and available network to meet the needs of even the most demanding customers,” Bedrick said in a prepared statement.

Opengear also has key partnerships in the IT management market. For instance, Opengear partnered with SolarWinds in 2010 to get in on a ground floor solution that evolved into a  full fledged mobile device management (MDM) offering. At the time, SolarWinds and Opengear developed a centralized management console for MSPs to remotely manage their customer’s desktops, business networks and mobile devices.

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As aspiring MSPs evaluate their software and customer support strategies, multiple vendor camps are emerging. A few examples:

• Continuum (formerly Zenith RMM) tightly links its remote monitoring and management (RMM) software with Continuum’s NOC services. The strategy was originally pioneered by Zenith Infotech, which sold its RMM/NOC business to Continuum in September 2011.
• N-able Technologies (RMM) and NetEnrich (NOC and closet-to-cloud services) have been partnering closely. Both N-able and NetEnich also work closely with Ingram Micro Cloud.
• ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini has called on MSPs to keep their help-desk services in house, so that MSPs can closely monitor customer trends — which often surface during help desk conversations.
• Numerous MSP-centric companies have partnered up with Live Virtual Help Desk, which offers help desk and NOC services to VARs and MSPs.

Now along comes Level Platforms. The company spent most of 2010 strengthening its core managed services software code base and writing feature enhancements. The result was Managed Workplace 2011, which — generally speaking — was well received by MSPs. Indeed, Level Platforms grew its partner base 45 percent in 2011.

Now, Level Platforms is branching out into the NOC and help desk services. The Level Platforms NOC and help desk services can be white labeled by VARs and MSPs. I believe the support teams are located in Level Platforms’ headquarters in Canada.

I believe a few dozen Level Platforms partners have been beta testing the NOC and help desk services. The early chatter has been positive but outsourced NOC and help desk services are notoriously difficult to scale — especially since the service provider needs to master so many different end-customer networks while offering multi-region support.

More information about Level Platforms’ NOC and help desk services are expected to surface during a Level Platforms roadshow even in February and March.

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