MSPmentor

Symantec has made another move in the managed storage market, acquiring Swapdrive. The deal pushes Symantec deeper into online storage, where the company already offers the Symantec Protection Network (SPN).

While SPN is a software as a service (SaaS) option for VARs and MSPs, Swapdrive targets consumers.

Symantec-Swapdrive is the fifth deal added this month to our MSPmentor M&A Tracker, which charts MSP- and SaaS-oriented mergers, acquisitions and investments. Here’s a bit more about Swapdrive. Read More >

Microsoft is spending considerable time this week talking up Forefront “Stirling,” a suite of integrated security products for desktop, server and network management. Although Stirling won’t arrive until the first half of 2009, I wonder if it will evolve to become a managed security service platform.  Read More >

Byte and Switch, a web site that covers storage and networking, offers interesting perspective on recent acquisitions at IBM and Seagate. The IBM deal (acquiring Arsenal Digital) and Seagate’s move (buying MetaLINCS) both have strong managed services angles, according to the site. Surprised? You shouldn’t be.

As we mentioned in our 10 Managed Services Predictions for 2008, traditional IT vendors will continue to push deeper into managed services. Cisco, Dell, Microsoft, McAfee, Symantec… and the list goes on. Read More >

As you likely heard, Dell is acquiring Everdream, the software-as-a-service and managed service platform provider. I firmly believe this will be part of a growing trend in 2008. Here are seven key lessons and considerations to keep in mind as Dell digests Everdream. Read More >

October is shaping up to be a busy month for Symantec’s various online software efforts. While the company prepares to launch Symantec Protection Network (a software as a service platform for partners), Symantec is also promoting its Managed Security Services (MSS) to customers. Here’s what Symantec’s strategy means to managed service providers. Read More >

The buzz is loud here at the MSP Alliance conference in San Jose. Up-and-coming MSP platform providers are inking partnerships with each other, and networking with more than 200 VARs and integrators. Clearly, the MSP ecosystem is maturing rapidly. Still, big vendors like Cisco Systems and Symantec are noticeably absent from this small but growing event. Looking ahead, those big players would be wise to follow the leads of Dell and Intel into the MSP market. Read More >