mspmentor

7. MSP Move?: I sense FalconStor will likely assign someone to manage and build the company’s MSP partnerships. Much in the way that Nimsoft targets the higher-end RMM (remote monitoring and management) market, I sense FalconStor will do the same in the online backup and disaster recovery market.

6. Done Deals: High Street Technology Ventures is expected to complete its buyout of MSP Services Network (MSPSN) sometime the week of January 18. Here’s background about the deal. And stay tuned: I hear some strategic partnership contracts involving other MSP-centric companies could get signed this weekend. (My cell phone’s on; call me when the ink dries…)

5. Confirmed: We’ll announce the third annual MSPmentor 100 results during a Webcast on February 10. The research report will debut shortly thereafter.

4. Worth Reading: Will Scott, director of worldwide managed services business development at Cisco Systems, has launched his own blog (outside of Cisco) to help stir conversation and education among managed and cloud services companies.

3. Online Backup Showdown?: Considering the following… Intronis, the online backup provider, is partnering with a range of RMM and PSA platform providers. Meanwhile, RMM provider Kaseya is preparing its own online backup service for the Kaseya 2 launch in late January 2010. Is the line between RMM and online backup blurring?

2. SaaS Goes Big In Small Business: Thirty percent of SMBs plan to leverage SaaS solutions in 2010, up from 22 percent in 2009 and 14 percent in 2008, according to a CompTIA survey. Impressive… but the numbers seem low to me. Didn’t those companies use a SaaS system to fill out the online survey?

1. Microsoft System Center: This week’s Microsoft-HP partnership announcement was short on details and long on rhetoric. But multiple readers tell me to keep a close eye on how HP leverages Microsoft’s System Center platform. I’ve never quite figured out why Microsoft hasn’t pushed System Center deeper into the MSP market… Keep an eye on HP’s moves with the Microsoft tool…