MSPmentor

Software companies and MSPs are erasing the line between managed services and cloud computing. In fact, I don’t think there ever was a line between the two specialties.

We’ve written quite a bit about the growing trend toward integrating managed services solutions (such as Vembu StoreGrid) with cloud services (such as Amazon Simple Storage Service).

But ScienceLogic blog has furthered the discussion with this blog entry — which describes how managed services, cloud computing and virtualization are coming together.

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While some managed service providers are wary of Amazon.com, a growing number of MSP software companies see strong potential for the Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), Amazon cloud services and distribution services. Two prime examples:

• Vembu, which makes storage software for MSPs, has announced support for S3.
• Clean Machine Inc. has signed a national (US) distribution Amazon.com.

Here’s a closer look at each deal, and their implications for managed service providers. Read More >

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 would be interesting to see how many terabytes (petabytes? exabytes or more?) of data were backed up and moved out of the Gulf Coast area ahead of Hurricane Gustav. Also, I wonder how much of that data was moved into commercial cloud services. Anybody have any estimates or seen any editorial coverage worth noting?

More than 70 percent of successful managed service providers offer some form of managed storage, according to our MSPmentor 100 survey. Despite that lofty figure, the online storage market continues to enjoy strong growth.

One prime example: Vembu since February has attracted roughly 350 new online storage partners — pushing its worldwide customer base to more than 900 partners, according to Lakshmanan Narayan,  president for Vembu. Read More >

Apparently, Symantec’s SaaS (software as a service) platform, known as Symantec Protection Network (SPN), hasn’t exactly set the world on fire since its launch earlier this year. In fact, Symantec has been unusually quiet about SPN’s progress in recent months.

But that changed last week, when the company described some of the bumps SPN has hit during Symantec Vision — a customer conference held in Las Vegas. Read More >

Business continuity is the ability of an organization to continue functioning after an unplanned interruption. Data disaster recovery is an important part of business continuity capabilities.

Why does your end client need a business continuity solution? And what are the key components of a business continuity plan? Here are some answers.

Read More >