NTRglobal has named a new CEO and plans to launch “new on-demand solutions for IT automation.” The company’s new leader, Gilles Samoun (pictured), has extensive experience in the software as a service (SaaS) market — most notably as founder of Qualys. I still need to speak directly with NTRglobal to get the deeper story, but here are some initial thoughts for NTRglobal’s managed services partners.

Rewind a bit to September 2009. At the time, NTRglobal was talking up partnerships with N-able and ConnectWise. The company also scored a five-year General Services Administration contract, meaning that the government market seemed primed for NTRglobal’s software. There was also talk of NTRglobal working more closely with IT franchises — perhaps with some virtual appliance launches.

But by late 2009, changes seemed to be emerging at NTRglobal. A few of my best sources at the company moved on to new opportunities elsewhere. NTRglobal’s blog went mostly silent. And the last piece of official news from the company — involving iPhone support — arrived in November 2009.

Investor Interests

When companies go silent, that always tells me changes are afoot. Fast forward to the present, and Samoun is stepping in to “accelerate the scope of business opportunities and product to investors, partners and the company’s enterprise customers…”

Notice that the NTRglobal statement mentions investors first. That’s a clear signal that Samoun has to deliver some solid financial results for the privately held company.

NTRglobal has a healthy installed base from which to build. The company says more than 17,000 customers of all sizes in more than 60 countries rely on NTRglobal’s software for on-demand remote support.

Samoun has been in the SaaS and IT markets for quite some time. In 1999 he launched Qualys, which specializes in on-demand vulnerability assessments. He also has served as CEO of Mediapath, Solsoft and Fotopedia.

I’m checking in with NTRglobal to see if Samoun is available for interview.

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