This episode of the MSPAlliance Podcast will examine the following topics:

* Federal data breach notification law and its impact on MSPs

* MSPWorld keynote speaker

* Upcoming Peer Networking Dinners

The MSPAlliance Podcast series discusses hot topics and trends of interest to the managed services and cloud computing industry. The podcast brings insightful analysis and commentary on issues, enabling MSPs of all sizes, anywhere in the world, to become more effective at what they do.

We welcome your input!

This episode of the MSPAlliance Podcast will examine the following topics:

* Sony Data Breach Lessons for MSPs

* End of year planning for MSPs

* New MSPs are entering the profession and also seeking new vendor relationships to enable their success

* Hybrid Cloud Computing Business Models for MSPs

The MSPAlliance Podcast series discusses hot topics and trends of interest to the managed services and cloud computing industry. The podcast brings insightful analysis and commentary on issues, enabling MSPs of all sizes, anywhere in the world, to become more effective at what they do.

This episode of the MSPAlliance Podcast will examine the following topics:

* Net Neutrality and its impact on cloud and managed service providers

* Ways MSPs can use Cloud in 2015

* Trends in M&A and MSP business valuations

The MSPAlliance Podcast series discusses hot topics and trends of interest to the managed services and cloud computing industry. The podcast brings insightful analysis and commentary on issues, enabling MSPs of all sizes, anywhere in the world, to become more effective at what they do.

MSP News & Analysis for the week ending October 31, 2014

FBI Keynote Offers MSPs Business Development for 2015 and Beyond

Last week’s MSPWorld keynote by FBI special agent Brent Watkins wasn’t just a behind the scenes look at the cyber security threats facing organizations today. The presentation was a roadmap for MSPs who were listening and paying attention to the unique business value they offer their customers.

MSP/Cloud Verify Program Adds Health Care and Banking Reporting

MSPs who are part of the MSP/Cloud Verify program can now add optional reporting addenda to their audit reports. The new report supplements focus on both health care and financial services in the US. Plans are currently under way to expand the types of reports available through the MSP/Cloud Verify program.

MSPWorld Cup Winners

We are very happy to announce the winners of the MSPWorld Cup awards.

Lenovo – Best Managed Services Solution

Rackspace – Best Cloud Solution

GreatAmerica Financial Services – MVP

Dell/CloudRunner – Best in Show

SilverSky To be Acquired by BAE Systems

The latest M&A activity in the managed services space involves longtime MSSP SilverSky announcing that it will be acquired by BAE Systems.

AVG Adds Identity as a Service for MSPs

AVG, who had it’s user conference this week in Arizona, announced a new Identity as a Service offering to its MSPs.

MSP Peer Dinner Announced for Australia

MSPs in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney are welcome to RSVP for our next series of Peer dinners in Australia this December. More information can be found at www.mspalliance.com/events

MSP News & Analysis for the week ending October 10, 2014

Symantec To Split Up Company

Symantec’s news this week of plans to split up the company into two entities has larger repercussions for the MSP channel.

HP To Split Company Into Two Divisions

HP’s decision, along with Symantec’s, raises issues of large vendors changing the way they approach the channel and what types of solutions they will promote. This is an undeniable trend and it may actually help the MSPs in the long run.

Mainstream Technologies Renews its UCS Audit & Certification

Little Rock based MSP, Mainstream Technologies, announced this week that it had successfully renewed its UCS audit and certification.

GreatAmerica Launches Benefits Program for Certified MSPs

MSP & leasing company GreatAmerica announced a special financing program for MSPs who have been MSP/Cloud Verified.

MSPWorld Fall Conference is Next Week!

 

MSP News & Analysis for the week ending October 3, 2014

California’s “BYOD” Law Might Impact MSPs

JP Morgan Chase Gets Hacked

The finance giant recently announced that earlier this summer it had been hacked. The cyberattack has impacted approximately 76 million households and 7 million small businesses, according to the New York Times. While no sensitive data was compromised, according to the company, emails, names, addresses, and phone numbers were.

Kaseya Version 8 is Launched

Kaseya just announced version 8 of their remote monitoring and management platform. The latest upgrade includes enhancement builds on Kaseya’s recent acquisition of Scorpion Software, with additions to the identity and access management software, AuthAnvil.

Arrow Now Distributing Rackspace Solutions

Distributor Arrow has inked a deal with Rackspace. The relationship allows Arrow solution providers to enter the Rackspace reseller program, which provides volume discounts, pre- and post-sales support and access to helpdesk services and financing services.

Nextiva Sponsors $5,000 Giveaway at MSPWorld Fall Conference

 

MSP News & Analysis for the week ending September 26, 2014

This week’s podcast previews some of the agenda highlights from the upcoming MSPWorld Fall Conference in Las Vegas.

MSP News & Analysis for the week ending September 19, 2014

We just returned from an exciting week visiting and talking with MSPs in UK and Europe. While we were gone, quite a number of important news items broke, which we will cover in this week’s podcast. If you have any ideas for stories please submit them to [email protected]

UK MSP Peer Dinners

We just wrapped up our tour of the UK where we did a couple of MSP peer dinners. The summary is the UK managed services market remains strong, the MSPs there are optimistic about the future and are dealing with many issues similar to the rest of the MSP global community.

Vendors Who Go Too Far

File this under the category of bad sportsmanship. MSPAlliance received an email sent by a sales rep for an RMM vendor to an MSP. The rep was trying to get the MSP to switch RMM platforms by saying some very unkind (and possibly incorrect) things about another vendor.

Public Cloud Not Secure Enough? 

A recent Ponemon Institute survey of over 1,000 European IT professionals, many of them have serious doubts about public cloud computing. Of particular interest, the survey found that 77% of the respondents did not think their service provider would tell them if they had a data breach. So, how should MSPs respond? We’ve got some ideas…listen the podcast.

Cisco Invests in Private Cloud

Making good on its promise to invest over $1 billion into its cloud computing strategy, Cisco announced it would be buying private cloud service provider MetaCloud. How will this impact the Cisco channel and other MSPs?

M&A Valuation Models for MSPs

MSPs (and consultants, including some M&A firms) take a far too simplistic approach to valuing MSP businesses. The valuation process is not as simple as taking a single multiplier and arriving at a price. MSP valuations, in order to be accurate, must take into consideration a variety of data points, many of which may not be used in MSP M&A transactions.

Rackspace Not For Sale?

Earlier rumors this year that Rackspace may be for sale appear to be incorrect. According to the MSP and hosting company, they are not for sale and in fact appear to be doubling down on the managed services path. With the appointment of a new CEO, and a renewed focus on high value managed services, while eliminating low value IaaS offerings, Rackspace may be on to something here.

Larry Ellison Steps Down as CEO of Oracle

Oracle has a new CEO…actually two. Founder Larry Ellison announced this week he would be stepping down as CEO and would become the chairman of the board. In his place, two co-CEOs would be taking over the daily operations of the company.

MSP News & Analysis for the week ending September 12, 2014

It was a very exciting week for managed services news, particularly a few noteworthy M&A deals which will have an impact on some MSPs. So, let’s get right into it.

Autotask Buys RMM vendor CentraStage

PSA vendor Autotask made a surprise move this week by acquiring RMM company CentraStage. The acquisition now positions Autotask competitively against ConnectWise, which also owns a stake in RMM company LabTech. Is this the beginning of a new era of MSP software wars?

GFI partner conference; splits company into two divisions

GFI partners who were attending the RMM company’s annual partner conference in Orlando this week received news that the company was creating a new division to be aimed at end-user IT organizations. The existing MSP division is now being called LogicNow.

Staples Sells MSP Business Unit

Once heralded as a sign of maturity and acceptance for the managed services industry, office supply retailer Staples sold its MSP division, Thrive Networks, to NY based communications provide MetTel.

AVG Integrates Office 365 Administration into Managed Workplace

Starting off with some news that broke last week but didn’t get into the last podcast, AVG announced that it has launched Microsoft Office 365 administration capabilities into their Managed Workplace product.

Cloud still needs local MSP participation

MSP from Rancho Cucamonga, California wrote an article about the need for localized MSP support and participation when dealing with cloud computing. If you’d like to read the article you can find it here: http://www.pe.com/articles/cloud-749117-support-computing.html

Private Cloud Services to Grow at 22%

Some good news for those of you in the private cloud business. This week research firm ReportsnReports predicted that the private cloud sector would grow at a compound annual growth rate of 22% between now and 2018.

Zenith Infotech shutting down

We are getting reports that the old Zenith Infotech company will be shutting down soon. The India based software and MSP company, which started during the early 2000s with great fanfare, has been having some problems over the last few years. Starting with a lawsuit between its investors, the company was forced to sell off its RMM and NOC division to an investment group, which renamed the company Continuum. Zenith Infotech kept its BDR product but has been struggling to fend off this lawsuit and big debt owed to its investors. It looks like this may be the end for Zenith.

iCloud hacked?

Roughly 100 celebrities realized the possible dangers of cloud computing this week when they learned that their secret photographs, some of them very candid, were exposed due to a hacker who gained access to their iCloud accounts. While it was initially thought that iCloud was hacked, new evidence is being uncovered that these celebrities were the target of a phishing scam, which ultimately was the cause of their data breach.

IaaS: The New Commodity Managed Service?

In an article this week, MSPAlliance discusses how Infrastructure as a Service may be changing, both in terms of how it is sold and delivered to end-users, as well as through the channel. If you are delivering IaaS, this is one article you should definitely read.