itControl Solutions: Serving up CAKE to MSPs

itControl Solutions, which develops the itControl Suite platform for managed services providers, has made a strategic hire and is preparing a next-generation interface — code-named CAKE — for its partner base. Here are some quick details.

David Toms recently joined itControl Solutions as senior VP of global sales and marketing. A veteran of Novell and other high-tech ventures, Toms first worked with itControl Solutions CEO Sheldon Waters more than 25 years ago. Now, Toms is working to raise itControl Solutions’ visibility among target customers.  Globally.

Some readers have dinged me for not covering itControl Solutions more frequently. But the company hasn’t really announced any news since October 2009.

What’s Cooking?

itControl Solutions seems ready to break its silence. For starters, itControl Solutions continues its R&D efforts. Among the company’s current efforts is CAKE. According to Toms:

“CAKE is the code name of our next generation panel interface which is currently in late stages of Beta.  We embraced in rewriting our 3 year old panel into a new framework so that we can develop features and functions in itControl even faster than we have previously. On launch a number of new features will be available to any of our resellers with more new features following shortly after launch. One of the new features included in CAKE is the ability to assign granular access control rights to any aspect of itControl to any user of the system. This will allow resellers to give their clients a username and password to the itControl panel and grant access rights to whatever aspect of itControl they wish.”

As regular MSPmentor readers know: I generally don’t blog in-depth about the features and functions of individual tools. Nor do I test the tools. I’m sort of like a baseball writer — just because I cover the games, that doesn’t mean you want me in the batter’s box.

But there’s more than a tech upgrade story brewing at itControl Solutions. There’s a business strategy story brewing. It’s global in nature. CEO Sheldon Waters and I have spoken a few times at various trade shows and conferences. Sharp guy with a big vision. Now, Toms seems set on raising itControl Solutions’ profile in the managed services market — beyond North America and onto a global stage. I suspect details will emerge in Q2.

Key Partners and Corporate Branding

On a more tactical level, keep an eye on itControl Solutions’ relationships with:

• MSP Services Network, which CompTIA veteran Gerard Kane acquired in December 2009. Kane has made some progress since the buyout, but I’m still organizing some thoughts and notes before sharing deeper details.
• Synnex, the big distributor. Synnex and itControl Solutions started working together in mid-2008. Some details about the updated Synnex managed services strategy leaked out onto MSPmentor in January 2010. But at that point, my sources went mum because they were still finalizing some efforts. I suspect we’ll hear more about the Synnex-itControl Solutions relationship in the weeks ahead.

I’d also keep an eye on itControl Solutions’ branding. Check the web site and the itControl Suite logo is everywhere, and the corporate brand (itControl Solutions) takes a serious back seat. I could be wrong, but I suspect Toms will take a look at the corporate branding vs. product branding situation for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes.

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