Managed Services: 7 Blogs MSPmentor Didn't Write, April 5

Frequent MSPmentor readers know the drill: After catching up with my family this weekend, I'm packing my bags for Ingram Micro Cloud Summit as well as Tech Data Channel Link. But before I move onto those tasks, here are seven managed services provider (MSP) news stories and blogs that our team didn't have time to write for the week ending April 5, 2013.

7. Cloud Services Depot: Yes, the company has transitioned its NOC (network operations center) and help desk businesses over to Live Virtual Help Desk, as MSPmentor first reported. Both sides concede the transition has hit a few bumps in recent days but LVHD CEO Dan Sturgill has offered up his email address to make sure MSPs making the transition can reach him ([email protected]). Meanwhile, Cloud Services Depot CEO Frank Hughes says his company will "return focus on delivering cloud applications to resellers and more specially, working with vendors to connect these cloud apps together for resellers." Key integrations include Autotask-Rackspace.

6. eDiscovery Services: Modus has launched its Fixed Fee Managed Services nationwide, providing cost predictability and control to eDiscovery, while eliminating the risk of budget overruns, the company claims. No doubt eDiscovery is a hot market niche -- especially for businesses focused on corporate compliance.

5. Best Email Subject Line of the Week: MasterIT, an MSPmentor 501 company, sent an email today asking: "Is Your Smart Phone Making You Dumb." I liked the subject line so much I clicked on through to read Bill Piper's blog.

4. Another M&A: A big MSP is about to make another acquisition, according to sources in the know.

3. Schnizzfest: Schnizzfest, the annual MSP conference hosted by TruMethods, is confirmed for June 20-22 in Philadelphia. The best thing about Schnizzfest? The format is similar to Charlie Rose interviews -- in-depth on-stage discussions. That's why Schnizzfest ranks among The VAR Guy's Top 100 Channel Events for 2013.

2. Memo to Dave Sobel, Nick Bock: The VAR Guy's Third Annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Road Trip is now in the planning stages. But here's the thing: The VAR Guy can't do a road trip to the event because of family commitments. But a post event road trip -- from WPC13 (Houston) to New Orleans for a weekend of controlled lunacy could be in the making...

For those who may be interested in joining the road trip, here's a look at last year's planning. The resulting road trip included an awful rental car, Wendy's Frosties, a burning car, more Wendy's Frosties, The Baseball Hall of Fame, more Wendy's Frosties, Niagara Falls, more Wendy's Frosties. Oh, and an arrival at WPC13.

1. Time to Catch Up? If you're at Ingram Micro Cloud Summit or Tech Data Channel Link and would like to potentially meet, feel free to post a comment or email me directly -- joe.panettieri [at] penton.com.

Thanks for your readership.