AT&T Business Solutions and Verizon Business continue to polish their respective managed services strategies. It begs the question: Are the telecom giants really a competitive threat to small MSPs? I expect to find some answers later this month. Here’s why.

Verizon Business on February 17 will host an invitation-only media forum in New York. According to a company spokesman:

I’m not suggesting that Verizon Business will compete head-on against MSPs that remotely manage customer PCs and notebooks. But Verizon Business has lined up more than 4,000 managed services customers — many of whom depend on Verizon for managed unified communications, wide area application services and other Cisco-oriented services.

Meanwhile, AT&T Business Solutions in its 4Q earnings report says managed telepresence services, hosting and unified communications provide a “strong platform for growth in 2009.”

I’m starting to wonder if or how small MSPs can compete in the managed telepresence world, where massive service providers have deep pockets to build out next-generation video conferencing systems.

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