Microsoft’s new cloud service — known as Azure — has multiple implications for managed service providers and the IT channel.
According to the software giant, Microsoft is positioning Azure to help MSPs:
“build new applications in the cloud — or use interoperable services that run on Microsoft infrastructure to extend and enhance your existing applications. You choose what’s right for you.”
That’s a pretty generic statement. So, what exactly is Azure? Let’s take a closer look.
Why do so many managed service provides spend so much time looking in the rear view mirror? That question popped into my head while moderating a session at the N-able Partner Summit last week.
Quite a few summit attendees told me they’re concerned about Microsoft, Dell, Google, Amazon and other big vendors offering software as a service (SaaS) directly to their customers.
Perhaps I’m naive. But shouldn’t MSPs be looking ahead and stepping on the gas, rather than looking back and worrying about big vendor competition?
Jeff Kaplan did it again. In his latest Think IT Services blog entry, Kaplan describes the a hybrid software as a service (SaaS) model that blurs the line between on-premise and cloud-based services. If you’re skeptical of this trend, check out these examples involving managed service providers working with Symantec, Vembu, Amazon.com and Fonality. Read More >
It was only a matter of time. Amazon.com’s Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) will soon support both Windows Server and SQL Server, according to this blurb on the Amazon.com Web site.
Faced with the reality that Red Hat Enterprise Linux and JBoss middleware were already available in the Amazon EC2 cloud, Microsoft pushed hard to ink the agreement with Amazon, according to one source close to the online retailer.
Software as a Service. That little term receives plenty of hype. MSPmentor’s own SaaS 20 Stock Index — down roughly 15 percent so far this year — shows that the SaaS hype isn’t quite living up to expectations this year.
Now comes word that Lawson Software — a key ERP (enterprise resource planning) software company serving the mid-market — doesn’t believe in SaaS. In fact, Lawson CEO Harry Debes predicts the SaaS market will collapse within two years.
SaaS certainly faces some challenges. But Debes is wrong. SaaS is here to stay. And it’s going to be dominant. Here are five reasons Debe and other SaaS doubters will wind up eating their words.
At what point does the online backup market become saturated? I ask myself that question at least once a week. The reason: I get flooded with emails, voicemails and press releases about managed service providers and resellers signing up for online backup services.
The latest example: Pro Softnet Corp. says its IBackup service now has more than 2,000 reseller partners and 150 new resellers are signing up per month.
Here’s how managed service providers can continue to compete — and differentiate — in the managed storage market.
A strong financial report from Amazon.com lifted the SaaS 20 Stock index a tiny 0.20% gain for the week ended July 25. The index has now climbed almost four percent since early July. Are software as a service (SaaS) stocks ready to continue a rally? We’ll find out on July 30, when RightNow (RNOW) is scheduled to announce 2Q results after the market closes.
Does Apple want to be a managed service provider? In some ways, yes. But so far those efforts aren’t going too well. The company’s MobileMe service — a cloud-based system designed to manage your contacts and calendars across a range of devices — is taking a beating from critics. Even The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, typically an Apple advocate, is telling readers that MobileMe is filled with problems.
From Apple’s MobileMe to Amazon.com’s Simple Storage Service (S3), we are seeing multiple examples of consumer-oriented companies stumbling a bit as they introduce managed services, software as a service (SaaS) and cloud-based solutions. Read More >
