Managed Services: 7 Blogs MSPmentor Didn't Write, Aug. 9

Managed Services: 7 Blogs MSPmentor Didn’t Write, Aug. 9

Written by Joe Panettieri 1
August 9, 2013

This week's managed services provider (MSP) news involves HTG Peer Groups, Tech Data TDCloud, ConnectWise and more.

I’m still on the road at Tech Data’s (TECD) TDCloud Summit in Florida, where a new cloud-based backup partnership with Carbonite has emerged. But before I return to the conference sessions, here are seven managed services provider (MSP) blogs and news stories the MSPmentor team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Aug. 9, 2013.

7. MSP Software Deals Coming: Tech Data is taking a close look at the RMM (remote monitoring and management) and PSA (professional services automation) software markets. My best guess: Watch for partnerships to emerge in October or November.

6. Do No Harm: SolarWinds (SWI) acquired N-able Technologies a few weeks ago. So far, SolarWinds has been completely hands-off — allowing N-able GM JP Jauvin and Senior VP Mike Cullen to drive business and sales operations, respectively, while upping expectations for N-able’s overall business. It seems like SolarWinds is using the classic “do no harm” strategy with N-able’s business, allowing the RMM company to execute its existing growth plan.

5. Dialing Dell?: Now that Dell has killed its PacketTrap software business, what happens to the customer information in the RMM and PSA software systems? Surely, that could be really valuable information to an MSP software provider…

4. Fab Four?: ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini, LabTech Software CEO Matt Nachtrab, Quosal CEO Kent McNall and CharTec CEO Alex Rogers were spotted together in Tampa this week working on… … … Stay tuned.

3. Microsoft Desktop as a Service: Watch for Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud service to offer desktop as a service (DaaS) later this year. Channel-friendly DaaS providers like independenceIT will need to move fast to stay ahead of Microsoft. But on the other hand, Microsoft’s endorsement of DaaS could stir interest in independenceIT, now led by Jim Lippie.

2. Next Disruption: The RMM market has seen lots of M&A activity in recent weeks. The next big market segment to see major change? Cloud backup and managed storage. Stay tuned for a bombshell or two in that market…

1. Next Stop: I’ll be at HTG Peer Groups’ Vision Summit on Aug. 15-16. The new event is positioned like a TED conference for channel partners.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading MSPmentor.