MSPmentor

The last thing the tech world needs is another acronym. But I was rather intrigued to learn about a managed service provider that offers so-called communications as a service (CaaS). The telecom company, Cypress Communications, is successfully branding CaaS as a way to describe hosted unified communications and VoIP services to customers. Here’s how.

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Chris Lyman is setting in the middle of a perfect storm. As CEO of Fonality, Lyman is building an IP-PBX company that leverages Asterisk (an open source platform) and embraces managed service providers. In other words, Fonality has converged three hot markets (unified communications, open source and managed services) into a single solution.

I realize that big vendors — Avaya, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Nortel Networks, etc. — are promoting unified communications solutions. But if you’re an MSP looking to get into IP telephony, it may be hard to ignore Fonality’s value proposition. Read More >

TelePresence, the next-generation video conferencing technology, is slowly catching on with big customers. But it could be a few more years before TelePresence becomes a mainstream opportunity for managed service providers. First, the good news: Hewlett-Packard says its Halo video conferencing deployments have been doubling annually since the product’s launch in 2005, according to Reuters. And as new TelePresence systems go in, customers will need managed service providers to deliver related bandwidth optimization services.

Now, for the reality check. Read More >

When people mention the city of Detroit to me, I think of struggling car companies and Thanksgiving football. But for Cbeyond, a managed service provider and Cisco Systems partner, Detroit represents a growing business opportunity. Cbeyond expects to employ roughly 100 people in the Detroit area by the end of this year as it seeks more small business customers for its IP telephony services. Equally important, Cbeyond has found creative ways to publicize its expertise. Here’s a look. Read More >

On their own, voice-over-IP and managed services are hot markets. Toss the two together, and maybe you can fan the flames of opportunity. For instance, check out how Cistera Networks is hosting VoIP managed services for schools. Read More >

I lifted the headline for this blog entry from a presentation David Strom delivered this morning at the MSP Alliance conference in San Jose. So, what were the five disruptive technologies? Three of them were obvious, but David caught my ear with his analysis of the other two — and some timely perspective on Microsoft Small Business Server. Read More >