Zenith Infotech & Zenith RMM Details: Shared In Court?
The Zenith Infotech bond default case will apparently have its next court hearing on November 14. In the meantime, Summit Partners apparently is willing to share details about the Zenith RMM purchase from Zenith Infotech — if the details are not disclosed publicly. But will those details really emerge? Here’s the update.
To rewind a bit: Zenith Infotech, which develops cloud solutions for MSPs, defaulted on a bond payment in September 2011. Around the same time, Summit Partners acquired Zenith RMM from Zenith Infotech. Bond holders have since petitioned India’s Mumbai High Court, seeking financial details about the Zenith RMM deal. The high court earlier this month ruled that Zenith Infotech should share those details.
Lastest Developments
Fast forward to the present: According to the Economic Times, Summit Partners is willing to share details about the Zenith RMM financial deal — if the details remain confidential to those involved in the court case. Meanwhile, Zenith Infotech apparently has appealed the High Court Order, seeking to block information about the Zenith RMM deal from being disclosed, according to Economic Times. An update could come on November 14, the apparent date of the next court hearing.
In a private video meant for partner and customer viewing only, Zenith RMM CEO Michael George recently told viewers that Summit Partners paid a fair valuation for Zenith RMM, and George said Zenith RMM is a completely separate organization from Zenith Infotech.
Meanwhile, some rivals are aggressively attacking Zenith Infotech and Zenith RMM at the IT Nation conference in Orlando. Numerous backup and RMM (remote monitoring and management) companies allege that Zenith partners are flocking to alternative platforms. However, MSPmentor cautions readers to do a reality check on your own. No doubt, some partners are making platform moves. But few MSPs have directly spoken with MSPmentor about such migrations.
Uncertainty Hurts
Either way, Zenith Infotech in particular faces a big challenge — it’s called uncertainty. Until Zenith Infotech manages to resolve the bond default issue, the company will suffer from at least some uncertainty in the market. And partners don’t like uncertainty.
On the upside, Zenith Infotech Senior VP Maurice Saluan is here at the IT Nation conference. And Zenith RMM CEO Michael George also attended the event. I have not spoken with Saluan or George directly while here. But it’s clear that Zenith Infotech and Zenith RMM executives are striving to remain visible in the U.S. while the Zenith Infotech bond case continues to navigate India’s court system.
Joe:
I think your point on uncertainty hurting is right on. The problem is that the uncertainty goes beyond will Zenith Infotech be able to continue providing service to its partner base in the future because Zenith actually has end customer data that may be required at some point in the future. If I were a Zenith partner today, I would at a minimum be sure I had access to the data for all my clients should Zenith be unable to perform on its commitments.
Mitchell Cipriano
http://www.demandbydesign.com
Mitchell,
If I was an MSP I’d take three steps…
1. Make sure all the all-premise Zenith Infotech appliances are running well.
2. Check in with your Zenith Infotech rep weekly — what’s new with the debt case, how is the company performing?
3. Speak with three other BDR providers to understand their strategies and architectures, and migration capabilities.
No need for anyone to be pressing the panic button. I know a few readers who have moved to alternative BDR systems. But I also know many readers who are using the steps above and staying put.
-jp