MSPmentor

Network Instruments, which specializes in network troubleshooting and analysis solutions, has added native cloud infrastructure monitoring to its Observer Infrastructure 3.0 network monitoring solution.

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Even the most rural areas of the United States have small businesses in need of a managed services provider. You’ll find proof of that in speaking with Citrus Networking Solutions Group President Teresa Bell (pictured). Bell landed on our MSPmentor 250 by focusing her company on delivering IT services in Citrus County, Fla. in the state’s  “Nature Coast” — one of the most rural areas in the country.

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KnowledgeCentrix President Chris Andreozzi, an MSPmentor 250 member, was working for a Fortune 10 organization in Southern California  when he noticed the company outsourced everything they weren’t good at. All of that business was going somewhere, and he wanted a piece of that outsourcing pie. His vision? To create an all-in-one instant IT department for small-to-medium sized companies.

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StillSecure Safe Access — a Network Access Control (NAC) solution from StillSecure — got a recent makeover. The major changes include  Common Access Card (CAC) authentication support for U.S. Department of Defense Smart Cards and faster Microsoft patching capabilities.

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RES Software, which develops Windows desktop management and virtualization software, is gaining momentum in several target markets. Indeed, the company says license sales over the past year have grown 185 percent in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Nordics regions. Next up, the company is investing to further accelerate momentum in New York,  Atlanta,  San Francisco, Chicago and Dallas, the company says.

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BBH Solutions Inc., a managed service provider in New York, has started to shift customers’ call centers in a cloud computing environment. BBH doesn’t mention customers by name, but the latest project involved moved a national call center’s voice and data applications into the BBH cloud environment. The move is part of BBH’s effort to position itself as a top provider of cloud hosted voice, data, and video applications in the region.

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Comtrend Corp., which develops networking equipment, has launched an Early Adopter Program (EAP) for its service provider partners. Participating service providers can test Comtrend’s hardware and software — and offer feedback — before the products are released in North America.

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Microsoft and Parallels this week at Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2011 (WPC11) announced a two-year pact to offer a cloud automation bundle geared toward the health industry. Both companies contribute technology to the mix. Parallels Automation provides a system for delivering, managing and billing cloud services. Microsoft, meanwhile, will kick in Microsoft System Center, Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, Lync Server and Hyper-V. Here’s a closer look at the relationship.

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I originally referred to NovaStor last week as a “European-based backup software and data protection solution provider.” My description of NovaStor prompted one of the company’s U.S. representatives to raise their hand and says I’m half-right… kind of. NovaStor Managing Director Mike Andrews wants MSPs to know the company has a strong U.S. presence and global reach. Here’s the update.

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Mother Network Guardians, a Chicago-based IT service provider, has acquired Decisions Systems Plus Inc. (DSPI) to potentially grow its SMB customer base. Cogent Growth Partners, LLC — a merger and acquisition advisory firm — advised Mother Network on the deal, which highlights continued consolidation in the MSP and VAR markets.

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Corporate Network Services, Inc., an MSPmentor 100 company, set a rather lofty business goal two years ago. Specifically, CNS wanted to double its revenues within five years. Marching toward that goal, CNS has expanded its Mac support capabilities, pushed deeper into the government vertical and focused aggressively on application development services and managed services.

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At first glance, NIU Solutions is a roll-up, formed through the acquisitions of  Pasporte, Ipitomi Solutions, Telinet LTD and Evolution Voice and Data LTD. The resulting company had more than 200 employees and 4,000 IT customers in the U.K. But just under a year ago NIU Solutions noticed the market was sharply shifting toward cloud computing and fully managed service solutions. So NIU made a decision to shift with the ebb and flow of the IT sector, focusing instead on 200 core customers. Here’s how.

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Roughly 500 MSPs, IT service providers and technology companies are gathered this week for the HTG Peer Groups Spring 2011 meeting in Dallas, Texas. So what’s the chatter so far? I’ve just arrived at the event but here are five quick pieces of information worth noting so far.

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Thinsolutions, a managed services provider in Cleveland, Ohio, is going vertical. Indeed, the MSPmentor 100 company has launched a Vertical Chief Information Officer (VCIO) strategy to tackle industry-specific vertical markets. Here’s how.

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Needless to say, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync is a popular standard for keeping smartphones in constant touch with the enterprise’s network. And now, Microsoft has teamed up with handset manufacturers for the Exchange ActiveSync Logo Program, which certifies that smartphone mobile mail clients can integrate as fully and securely as you’d want them to. For MSPs, the logo program may offer some peace of mind. Here’s why.

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As the world shifts to more and more online meetings, iVenture — an MSPmentor 100 company in Jacksonville, Fla. — continues to promote monthly face-to-face events to drive customer education and qualified lead generation. The result: Roughly 20 percent of event attendees become customers, according to iVenture Director of Operations Joe Turso (pictured). Here’s the background.

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Google Message Continuity, the Postini-powered, Gmail-leveraging message continuity service, now supports backing up Microsoft Exchange 2010. But despite the potential benefits, extending Google Message Continuity like this raises more questions than it answers. Here’s why.

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As Level Platforms prepares to host managed service provider (MSP) gatherings in 19 cities, two software giants — Microsoft and Symantec — will hitch a ride to more closely monitor and learn about the MSP sector. It’s the latest sign that both Microsoft and Symantec are finally waking up to the next-generation channel. Here’s why.

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No doubt, the disaster recovery market is filled with vendors trying to engage VARs and managed services providers. So how does a company like StorageCraft Technology Corp. hope to stand out from the crowd? We went searching for answers and here’s what we learned.

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Cloud-based IT delivery automation platform provider OS33 has launched a Quick Start Program. The program is designed to give MSPs a leg up when moving their business to a totally hosted environment. OS33 gives partners a hosted, branded demo environment and sales and marketing materials, and lets them take it from there. Here are some details:

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Microsoft has released Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) 2010 to manufacturers, with a general availability through their Volume Licensing Service Center of January 1, 2011. But that’s less interesting than the fact than FES 2010 marks the start of Microsoft’s play to integrate security and desktop management. Here’s some perspective.

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When MSPmentor reported that Google Postini was providing business continuity services for Microsoft Exchange, my inbox was filled with chatter on the subject of storing messages and keeping them highly available. Now Microsoft has shown its true feelings for the Postini option in a blog entry titled, “Email Availability Considerations,” which laid out Redmond’s own recommendations for backing up Exchange messages yourself — or picking a hosted provider. Microsoft even mentions Google Postini as a potential option. Here’s the scoop:

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Earlier this week MSPmentor noted that Dell has been very quiet on the managed services and systems management fronts. Now it’s time for us to eat a little bit of crow. Specifically, the Dell KACE team is making some systems management moves that may interest MSPs. Here’s the update.

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