Bluehawk Networks: Dell Partner Makes Managed Services Push

When it comes to the managed services, Dell partners have been mostly quiet in recent months. But listen closely and you’ll hear some managed services and cloud chatter from Bluehawk Networks, a Dell partner that’s making acquisitions to expand its SMB and Fortune 1000 customer reach. Here are the details.

Based in Campbell, Calif., Bluehawk recently launched a new web site to help promote its ITIL (information technology infrastructure library) expertise to customers. The company also promotes InSite, a SaaS application for IT Service Management that runs natively on Saleforce.com’s Force.com platform. In a prepared statement, President and CEO Bruce Lichorowic claims InSite will “revolutionize the service desks of modern IT organizations.”

To reach this point, Bluehawk acquired VistanetIT, a professional managed services provider and technical support organization, and Kailea, the original developer of InSite. The company also has relationships with Citrix, Dell, Level Platforms, Microsoft, Salesforce and VMware, Bluehawk says.

And here’s an interesting twist: Bluehawk is a longstanding member of the Dell Partner Advisory Council, notes Bob Skelley, global director for the Dell Certified Partner Program & Channel.

Dig a little deeper and you’ll discover Bluehawk offering some familiar managed services options including:

• Technology assessment and provisioning services for servers, server virtualization, virtual desktop integration and application virtualization.
• Remote and onsite IT services including a 24/7 Network Operations Center for remote monitoring in addition to system maintenance, system integration and network design.
• And business continuity services with remote backup and disaster recovery capabilities.

Dealing With Dell

Still, the Dell-Bluehawk relationship is what caught my attention here. Generally speaking, I think most Dell channel partners focus on reselling Dell hardware, with a growing emphasis on storage. Dell Channel Chief Greg Davis has conceded that the Dell Managed Services platform has both gained and lost MSP partners in recent years.

But Bluehawk seems to be melding Dell solutions with its own managed services options. We’ll be listening for more updates.

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