The MSPmentor team is ramping up to cover Cloud Channel Summit 2013, Amazon AWS re:Invent 2013 and IT Nation 2013, hosted by ConnectWise. But before we hit the road to analyze the latest VAR, MSP and CSP industry developments, here are seven managed services provider (MSP) blogs and news stories we didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Nov. 1, 2013.

7. Potential IPO – Update: GFI Software filed an updated prospectus with the SEC on Oct. 25. The prospectus offers updated information on GFI’s revenues, business strategy… and potential Initial Public Offering (IPO).

6. Earnings Call: AVG Technologies is set to announce quarterly results on Nov. 7. Listen in and you may get new clues about AVG’s MSP software strategy. The company purchased Level Platforms earlier this year, and now promotes the RMM platform as AVG Managed Workplace.

5. 2014 Channel Events Calendar: The VAR Guy’s Top 100 Channel Partner Events (www.thevarguy.com/events) list and calendar for 2014 is live. But there are some holes… Check out the list, make your suggested additions, and bookmark the page to help plan your 2014 travel schedule.

4. Done Deal: I keep telling people there’s a 99.9 percent chance that ConnectWise has made another investment. In reality, I now think there’s a 99.999 pecent chance MSPmentor is correct.

3. Cloud and MSP Revenues: EarthLink (an MSPmentor 501 and Top 100 Cloud Services Provider) and CenturyLink (owner of Savvis, another Top 100 CSP) both are expected too announce earnings this week. We’ll develop some recaps to measure how the cloud and managed services markets are performing.

2. Never Mind:  BlackBerry (BBRY) had planned to sell itself. But the latest rumor says the company has fired its CEO and plans to raise $1 billion. The story seems to get stranger by the day, and represents a cautionary tale for MSPs that feel like they are sitting on top of the world today… without staying hungry.

1. Top 501 MSPs: Our 2013 survey is open. Participate to see if your business ranks among the top large, midsize and small MSPs worldwide.

That’s all for now. But a special P.S. to readers who are attending IT Nation 2013: I look forward to seeing you and catching up.