LabTech 2012 Debuts With Ignite, Mobile Device Management

LabTech 2012, debuting today, features mobile device management and native Mac and Linux agents for managed services providers. But the two LabTech Software developments that caught my attention involve LabTech’s headcount (now 131 employees) and LabTech’s Ignite software strategy — which involves LabTech experts like Kevin Gibson and Vernon Southmayd. LabTech CEO Matt Nachtrab (pictured) offered MSPmentor some background on April 13.

During a conference call, Nachtrab described how a new LabTech approach — called LabTech Ignite — eases the software’s installation and improves LabTech’s out-of-box experience. Somewhat similar to Microsoft Wizards, LabTech Ignite offers pre-configured settings, group inheritance and other capabilities to get MSPs up and running with LabTech more rapidly, Nachtrab asserted.

Two Names to Know

Nachtrab credited Kevin Gibson and Vernon Southmayd for many of the Ignite capabilities.

Gibson is director of business transformation services at LabTech. A former MSP, Gibson previously was VP of Atlanta Technology Force and also co-founder of MSP Centrifuge, an organization that ran MSP application centric peer groups. Earlier, Gibson spent six years with the Georgia Department of Transportation, overseeing 5,000 users. LabTech announced Gibson’s hiring in September 2011 — dropping clues along the way that the Ignite initiative was under way.

Meanwhile, Southmayd is well-known in the LabTech software community. As CEO of Creative Computing in Saginaw, Mich., Southmayd made the jump from Kaseya to LabTech and has been very active in the LabTech community.

“Kevin and Vernon blew me away with what they’ve created [with Ignite],” said Nachtrab. “I’ve been an MSP but I’ve never run a NOC. With Ignite, you’re gaining industry best practices from two experts. Ignite can lift MSPs from reactive mode to more of a proactive approach.”

But does Ignite work as advertised? Over the past year or two, I’ve heard from a few MSPs who found LabTech deployments complex — though the same can certainly be said for many other RMM (remote monitoring and management) software platforms. We’ll be watching closely to see if Ignite addresses those install and configuration challenges.

Additional Enhancements

The new LabTech 2012 platform also includes:

• LabTech Mobile Device Manager, which supports inventory, configuration, restrictions, remote wipe, monitoring, and reporting for Google Android and Apple iOS devices.
• Native Mac and Linux Agents, utilizes a full range of supported administration, configuration and remote troubleshooting capabilities.
• A multi-vendor backup management dashboard that supports such options as AppAssure, CA ARCserve D2D and Acronis.
• Third-party integrations for VMware ESX, Symantec Endpoint Protection and Backup Exec, and the Doyenz cloud.

Meanwhile, LabTech still appears to be in growth mode. The software company now has about 131 employees, up from about seven employees two years ago. The early growth arrived when ConnectWise Capital invested in LabTech Software back in February 2010.

But more recent growth, Nachtrab says, has involved LabTech’s continued product and support improvements. LabTech will offer additional updates during the LabTech Automation Nation conference (June 11-13, Orlando, Fla.).

Most of the major RMM providers, meanwhile, have also disclosed strong growth trends in Q1 2012, though most of the information is anecdotal rather than comprehensive financial information.