MSPmentor

At first glance, Parallels is a relatively small software company — generating about $100 million in annual revenues while helping hosting providers and channel partners to more rapidly deploy SaaS applications. But listen to new Parallels CEO Birger Steen (pictured) and you’ll learn about the convergence of managed services and cloud computing at this week’s Parallels Summit in Orlando, Fla. I’m not here to endorse Parallels’ software, but I can say — with confidence– that MSPs and VARs should start attending the company’s annual partner summit. Here’s why.

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Level Platforms has launched Managed Workplace Cloud Edition, a hosted remote monitoring and management platform for MSPs. Take a closer look and you’ll notice some evolving partnership strategies in the managed services ecosystem. Indeed, NaviSite is hosting Managed Workplace Cloud Edition for Level Platforms. Plus, a longstanding relationship between Level Platforms and Ingram Micro Services and Ingram Micro Seismic is evolving…

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When Parallels Chairman Serguei Beloussov (pictured) talks, a growing portion of the managed services industry is starting to listen. More than 1,000 channel partners — including hosting providers and cloud services providers — are attending this week’s Parallels Summit 2011 in Orlando, Fla. If you look hard enough you’ll find a healthy number of managed services experts — folks like Autotask‘s Mark Crall and Ingram Micro‘s Renee Bergeron — attending this year’s event. The race, it seems, is on to find out how Parallels’ rapidly growing partner ecosystem may converge with the managed services market.

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The Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace for MSPs and VARs is getting cloud hosting solutions by way of new corporate ally GoGrid. The idea is to bring cloud infrastructure services mainstream for the IT channel, and the alliance represents the relatively small GoGrid’s first major relationship with a distributor. Here are some details.

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During the Kaseya Connect User Conference this morning, CEO Gerald Blackie said the company is marching toward $100 million in annual revenues. Blackie and other Kaseya executives also described the bigger mission for Kaseya 2, a managed services platform that experienced a launch delay from 2009 to early 2010. And that’s not all. Here are 10 highlights from Blackie’s keynote plus additional observations from Kaseya Executive VP Jim Alves and President Mark Sutherland.

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By now, you know the drill: Each week MSPmentor intends to write dozens of additional managed services blog entries. But each week, our team winds up with distractions — travel, phone calls, and something called “occasional sleep.” Here are seven managed services blog entries we didn’t have time to write for the week ending February 26, 2010.

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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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Nimsoft has launched a Unified Monitoring Alliance that includes Autotask, ConnectWise, FusionStorm, Ingram Micro, Rackspace Hosting and roughly 30 other service providers and independent software vendors. What does all this mean? Here’s my take on Nimsoft’s efforts.

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A report suggests that Dell is about to launch ProManage Managed Services in Europe. If true, the move would represent the latest in a growing list of managed services moves across Europe. Plus, I think Dell will extend the ProManage brand into new technology markets. Here’s the early buzz.

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In the past week, I’ve run into four of the most successful software as a service (SaaS) companies that Wall Street investors don’t know — at least not yet. Here’s a quick look at the companies, and their critical importance to the SaaS industry.

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The writing has been on the wall for several weeks. MSPmentor told Microsoft partners in March that managed service providers needed to master — or at least explore — hosted versions of Microsoft Exchange Server, Dynamics CRM and SharePoint. Now, Ingram Micro’s Seismic team is hoping to accelerate MSP moves to those hosted applications. Here’s the scoop.

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For those who are new to managed services, the term “master managed service provider” may sound like some industry jargon or a new certification. But in reality, working with so-called Master MSPs — companies like Do IT Smarter or Ingram Micro’s Seismic organization — is one of the fastest ways to become a managed service provider. Here’s why.

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When it comes to managed services, Trend Micro certainly has a sense for timing. The security company has launched a “pay as you go” managed service with Ingram Micro. The offering comes as Trend rival Symantec prepares to launch its own software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, know as the Symatec Protection Network. Let the showdown begin.

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