Life apparently is good for BMC Software, which recently released the newest version of its Atrium Discovery and Dependency Mapping (ADDM) solution. But the BMC news doesn’t stop there. The company’s roughly one-year-old RemedyForce Service Desk platform has attracted 100 customers to date. That, according to BMC Software Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Marc Ferrentino, has far exceeded the company’s initial expectations.
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BMC RemedyForce: Cloud-based IT Service Desk Has Strong Start
Posted December 14th, 2011 by Nicholas Mukhar
Kaseya Extends Salesforce.com With Cloud9 for Sales Forecasting
Posted June 6th, 2011 by Nicholas Mukhar
In an interesting twist, Kaseya is extending Salesforce.com‘s CRM to Cloud9 for a global sales forecasting and pipeline management solution. Ironically, Kaseya was originally on the hunt for an enterprise business intelligence platform when it discovered Cloud9.
Zuora Launches Recurring Revenue Billing Solution
Posted April 8th, 2011 by Matthew Graven
California-based Zuora, which provides SaaS solutions for subscription management and billing, is partnering with Salesforce.com to deliver a new product designed for the communications industry. According to a blog post from Shawn Price, president of Zuora, the new offering—called Zuora for Communications—will provide “billing and customer care in a unified solution for managing the entire subscription commerce lifecycle …entirely in the cloud.” Is this a potential recurring revenue billing solution for MSPs?
Save Yourself 2 Years: Pick A Cloud Specialization Now
Posted September 29th, 2010 by Jason Beal
In the past year, we’ve heard a lot about the tremendous opportunities available to channel partners who are willing to jump into cloud computing. And in my previous columns, I’ve described how the cloud offers channel partners a unique chance to provide customers with top notch service, adding more value at lower prices while still making steady profits doing it. But how do you get started? Here are some clues.
ManageEngine Launches Freemium Managed Services Platform
Posted September 8th, 2010 by Joe Panettieri
ManageEngine, a division of ZOHO Corp., has launched MSP Center Lite, an agent-based remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform for managed services providers. The interesting twist: MSP Center Lite is free for MSPs that want to manage up to 25 devices. Beyond that, the software starts at $545 per year for 50 managed devices. Here’s a closer look at ManageEngine’s strategy plus the MSP freemium trend.
Ingram Micro Names VP of Managed Services & Cloud Computing
Posted September 2nd, 2010 by Joe Panettieri
Ingram Micro has found Justin Crotty’s successor. The distributor has named Renée Bergeron as VP of managed services and cloud computing for its North America region. Translation: Bergeron has a slightly different title, but she essentially succeeds Crotty as the head of the Ingram Micro Services Network, Seismic services portfolio and the Cloud Conduit Initiative and Advisory Council. Here are additional details.
Ingram Micro Cloud Summit: Top 10 Highlights
Posted June 7th, 2010 by Joe Panettieri
The Ingram Micro Cloud Summit is wrapping up in Dallas today. Roughly 250 VARs and managed services providers attended the conference. So what were the key takeaways? And better yet… what rumors surfaced behind the scenes? Here are some observations from MSPmentor.
Virtela Launches Enterprise Services Cloud
Posted June 7th, 2010 by Matthew Weinberger
Virtela, which bills itself as the world’s largest independent managed network services company, has launched the Virtela Enterprise Services Cloud (ESC), a carrier-independent open cloud architecture to deliver anything as a service from anywhere across any network. Moreover, they’re launching the “Virtela Cloud-Based Application Acceleration Service,” which does exactly what it says on the tin for $5 a day. All of those claims sound pretty lofty. Here’s a closer look at the Virtela effort.
Ingram Micro Talks Cloud With Amazon, Rackspace, Salesforce.com
Posted June 7th, 2010 by Joe Panettieri
The rumors were true: Ingram Micro is developing cloud-centric business relationships with Amazon.com, Rackspace Hosting, Salesforce.com and several other heavy hitters. The relationships are linked to Ingram Micro’s new Cloud Conduit initiative. Here are details about the moves, and the potential implications for managed services providers (MSPs) and VARs.
Seven Managed Services Blog Posts We Didn’t Write: April 30
Posted April 30th, 2010 by Joe Panettieri
Greetings from 30,000 feet. I’m flying home from Cisco Partner Summit. The flight marks the end of a rather amazing month of business travel — though MSPmentor’s team will stay on the road in May to keep covering the MSP and channel partner events. In the meantime, here are seven managed services blog entries our team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending April 30, 2010.
CloudShare, VMforce: One-two Punch?
Posted April 28th, 2010 by Charlene OHanlon
CloudShare now has another offering in its collection of cloud services for end-customers. The latest move involves VMforce, the joint technology offering recently announced between VMware and Salesforce.com. Here are details.
Ingram Micro Seismic: 1,600 MSPs Now Engaged
Posted April 21st, 2010 by Joe Panettieri
Ingram Micro Seismic, the distributor’s managed services brand, generated record revenue and profit results in Q1 2010, according to Services VP Justin Crotty (pictured). But Crotty isn’t resting on Seismic’s laurels. During a discussion at the Ingram Micro VTN conference today in Hollywood, Fla., Crotty offered additional Seismic insights plus a preview of Ingram’s cloud conference — where Microsoft, Salesforce.com and RackSpace are set to take the stage. Here are the details.
Autotask Community Live: Five Questions Worth Asking
Posted April 15th, 2010 by Joe Panettieri
When the Autotask Community Live conference kicks off April 18 in Miami, I plan to arrive with plenty of questions. No doubt, Autotask and the broader PSA (professional services automation) market are evolving. New competitors. New strategies. New opportunities? Here are five questions and story angles I plan to pursue at the conference.
Salesforce.com Prepares to Engage MSPs
Posted April 5th, 2010 by Joe Panettieri
For about a year now, I’ve been hearing occasional chatter about Salesforce.com’s plans to more aggressively engage managed services providers. Finally, the SaaS and cloud chatter seems to be evolving into a formal Salesforce.com strategy involving MSPs. And I suspect we’ll hear some Salesforce.com details during the Ingram Micro Seismic partner conference, scheduled for June 7-9 in Dallas. Here’s why.
Microsoft, Google Making Federal Cloud Moves
Posted February 26th, 2010 by John Moore
There’s high-level support for cloud computing in the government space so, unsurprisingly, vendors are following the money. The latest to do so is Microsoft. The company this week rolled out a federal-specific version of its Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). And you can bet Google and Amazon Web Services will be making some federal cloud moves as well. Here are some of the details and implications.
HHS Opts for Cloud-based CRM
Posted February 18th, 2010 by John Moore
Government agencies continue to adopt the cloud, with the Department of Health and Human Services providing the latest proof point. HHS has tapped Acumen Solutions, a business and technology consulting firm, to provide cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM). Here are some quick details.
Nimsoft Launches Unified Dashboard for On-Premise, Cloud Monitoring
Posted October 20th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
Nimsoft has launched a Unified Monitoring dashboard (shown above) that allows managed service providers to track the health of on-premise systems and cloud applications — from Google Apps to Salesforce.com. In recent months, several vendors have told me they’re working on similar dashboards but I saw a demo of the Nimsoft offering last week and it seemed to work as advertised. Here are some quick thoughts on the effort.
ZOHO: Blending SaaS And Managed Services
Posted July 23rd, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
Consider two of the biggest questions facing MSPs: First, how will managed services and SaaS (software as a service) converge with one another? Second, what role will MSPs play in that convergence? Take a look at ZOHO Corp. and you might begin to find some key trends and answers. Here’s why.
Gartner: The Great SaaS Debate
Posted July 9th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
Generally speaking, I respect Gartner’s research. I’ve quoted Gartner’s analysts since about 1992. But a recent Gartner report suggests businesses are only “somewhat satisfied” with software as a service (SaaS). I know SaaS has its flaws and challenges. But are businesses only “somewhat” satisfied with SaaS? Really?
NetSuite Launches Cloud for ISVs
Posted March 24th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
I overlooked this piece of news from last week — until I spotted it on Jeff Kaplan’s blog: NetSuite, one of the better-known ERP software as a service (SaaS) providers, has launched a cloud for ISVs (independent software vendors) to develop and deploy new applications. But this isn’t the only way to build a cloud service.
ManageEngine + Zoho = Managed SaaS Services?
Posted February 26th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
Quick, name a company in the managed services market that successfully competes against Google Apps, Salesforce.com and Microsoft — all at the same time. Before you answer, consider this name: AdventNet — which owns Zoho (SaaS applications) and ManageEngine (managed services software). Take a closer look, and you’ll discover Zoho and ManageEngine are cross-leveraging their technologies. Here’s how.
Google’s Emerging SaaS Rival
Posted February 17th, 2009 by Joe Panettieri
When we covered the new Google Apps Reseller program a few weeks ago, plenty of managed service providers stood up and took notice. Now, I invite you to learn about the company that’s well positioned to compete with Google in the Software as a Service (SaaS) market. You’ll find the scoop over here, on TheVARguy.com.
Salesforce.com Enters Web Hosting Business
Posted November 3rd, 2008 by Joe Panettieri
Competition in the Web hosting market continues to rise. The latest example involves Salesforce.com, which has unveiled a new service — called Force.com Sites — that allows customers to run their Web sites in the Salesforce.com cloud. The move comes only a few days after Microsoft launched its Azure cloud services.
