I hinted earlier this month that ADTRAN, which competes with Cisco Systems on some fronts, would be making aggressive moves into the managed services market. An official release about the managed services strategy surfaced today, with ADTRAN announcing n-Command MSP, a remote monitoring and management tool for VARs.
Managed Services Franchises Explained
How does a managed services franchise work? I posed that question to Jason Creally, VP of sales at The Utility Company, during a late-afternoon meeting on December 9. Creally walked me and Amy Katz (my business partner) through The Utility Company’s business model — which extends managed services out to more than 60 IT service provider franchisees across North America.
Pointivity Becomes Master MSP, Master SaaS Provider
Pointivity is the latest Web host and managed service provider to begin hosting services for other VARs and MSPs. The strategy involves a partner program for hosted Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Dynamics, Blackberry services, Global Relay email archiving and dedicated servers.
September: Best Month Yet for Ingram Micro Seismic
This just in: Ingram Micro Seismic, the distributor’s family of hosted services for VARs, signed up 52 new partners in September — the largest single month for net new partners, according to Ingram VP Justin Crotty.
Master MSPs: 20 Percent of the Managed Services Market?
So-called Master MSPs now represent nearly 20 percent of the managed service provider market, according to the ongoing MSPmentor 100 survey. Still, thriving as a Master MSP isn’t easy. Here’s why.
Network Depot Launches Hosted Kaseya Managed Services
Network Depot LLC, ranked No. 75 in last year’s MSPmentor 100 survey, is transforming itself into a Master MSP. The company has introduced a hosted Kaseya platform, known as Virtual Administrator, that small VARs can leverage.
Rise of the Managed Services Distributor
During the ConnectWise Partner Summit last week, CEO Arnie Bellini described how cloud computing would converge with managed services. Now, a research report from Techaisle also describes this convergence — and they coin the term Managed Services Distributor.
ConnectWise Partner Summit: Five Trends Worth Watching
When the ConnectWise Partner Summit kicks off this week in Orlando, Fla., I’ll be sitting down with managed service providers and vendors to gather their observations. Roughly 700 MSPs are expected to attend the event. Here are five key trends I expect to track at the conference.
Update: Avnet Technology Solutions’ OneTech Managed Services Strategy
I spoke with Avnet Technology Solutions on August 20 to get more details about their expanded OneTech Managed Services initiative, which the company announced earlier this week.
Ingram Micro Seismic Partner Conference: 3 Managed Services Trends
Roughly 175 solutions providers are gathering in Chicago this week for the Ingram Micro Seismic Partner Conference, which runs August 11 through 13.



