Managed Services, Backup And Recovery, And Networking News From June 2015
By The Business Solutions Network
Each month, Business Solutions reports news on business in the channel. This month in managed services, backup and recovery, and networking news, Tigerpaw announces two integrations, Unitrends moves to a 100 percent channel sales model, Intronis announced a new dashboard design and automated executive report generator, and Datto announces its Networking Appliance Router as well as four additional new products. Also in the news, MAX Backup announces a per-device pricing model, StorageCraft introduces a professional services program, and Tech Data launches a reseller marketing portal.
Tigerpaw Software Announces Two Integrations
Tigerpaw Software and GMS Live Expert (GMS), a channel-focused outsourced help desk support organization, have launched a new integration partnership designed to improve communication, productivity, and reporting for managed service providers. The new help desk integration enables service providers for Tigerpaw and GMS Live Expert to connect their help desk driven systems with GMS, improving ticket-driven help desk response times. The partnership simplifies service providers’ integration with an outsourced help desk solution that boasts industry-leading first interaction resolution rates, fully certified technicians, and a completely North American-based team. Current Tigerpaw partners can receive special pricing options for choosing to leverage GMS’ North American-based team to operate as their front line help desk resource.
Additionally, Tigerpaw has approved a new Web Services integration with BrightGauge, a developer of business intelligence solutions for IT service providers. The partnership allows Tigerpaw’s IT service providers to gain business insights from key data while providing secure access and customizable, visual reports to share with key contacts. The integration includes more than 50 default and prebuilt metrics and KPIs and also integrates with QuickBooks, RMM solutions and any SQL database.
Unitrends Moves To A 100% Channel Sales Model
Unitrends recently announced that the company has implemented a 100 percent channel-driven go-to-market strategy. This strategic business move is immediately injecting millions of dollars into Unitrends’ channel ecosystem, and enabling the company to cultivate new and existing relationships with partners around the world. “The impetus behind our decision to move exclusively to a channel sales model was simple: we no longer wanted to compete with our partners,” says Kevin Weiss, president and CEO of Unitrends.
This announcement came on the heels of Unitrends’ recent appointment of Mike Dalton as the company’s senior VP of worldwide channels and international field operations. Dalton, who is tasked with setting the strategic direction of Unitrends’ channel program and driving its expansion, is working in concert with the executive team to roll out the company’s new channel sales model. In Q3 2015, Unitrends will unveil a completely new channel program, which is being custom built from the ground up.
Intronis Update Brings New Dashboard, Reports
In the summer release of its ECHOplatform, Intronis announced a new dashboard designed to enable channel partners to further streamline administrative tasks and accelerate issue resolution by capturing the health of the entire Intronis ECHOplatform portfolio in a single interface. New filtering options deliver the most critical data at a glance, and save those options for future use every time you log in to the portal.
Additionally, the company unveiled an automated executive summary report generator. The reporting tool complements the Intronis ECHOplatform dashboard and makes it easier for channel partners to demonstrate the value of their services and better discuss opportunities to improve the overall effectiveness of their client’s data protection strategy.
Datto Announces Five New Products
At Datto’s recently-held partner conference, the company made five announcements. Perhaps the most surprising is the Datto Networking Appliance (DNA) Router. This router was built from the ground up to address shortcomings the company perceives in existing networking solutions. Datto founder and CEO, Austin McChord, says that a third of support tickets are related to ancient hardware. “User interfaces for routers are slow,” he says. “They’re hard to configure and troubleshooting is a pain. Plus, there’s no good way to centrally manage many routers.” Datto DNA lets you remotely troubleshoot a client’s internet connection, even when the ISP is down. The solution integrates with existing PSA and RMM tools. Additionally, if the Internet connection goes down, the device switches over to a 4G connection. Interestingly, Datto is paying the cost of the 4G so there’s no need for MSPs or their customers to pay for a broadband contract. This router is expected to be available in September, pending FCC approval.
Another announcement concerning a Linux agent for backup got a hearty round of applause from the partners in attendance. McChord describes the new capability as “true image-based backup for Linux, which brings VSS capabilities, installs without a restart, provides real-time block-level change tracking, and broad support for many Linux distros.” The Linux agent is fully supported in SIRIS and the Datto cloud and is available today on every SIRIS device ever sold.
Datto has also created a solution that brings automated, secure backup for data stored in Office 365. Additionally, the company partnered with ownCloud to create a file backup, sync, and sharing engine for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Datto worked with the company to take its enterprise version and make it available to SMBs. The Datto version installs and auto-configures in a few clicks. It’s available today on every SIRIS ever sold. In a further attempt to protect an MSP’s margins, Datto has added this functionality free of charge.
Finally, Datto has a new partner portal page that provides a stream of events and useful information. This feed connects problems to solutions to convert more revenue to profit. From the dashboard, MSPs can create support tickets, which are prefilled with contact info, with a click. If MSPs prefer to manage their Datto devices through their PSA or RMM tool, Datto is making the stream available for integration.
MAX Backup Announces Per-Device Pricing Model Including Storage
LogicNow has recently announced the launch of its new pricing strategy for MAX Backup, a full disaster recovery solution now to be charged per device for both servers and workstations, rather than by data usage. The move makes it more practical for MSPs and IT service providers to sell comprehensive disaster recovery services with predictable costs for themselves and their customers.
Traditionally, organizations have been charged per device for most services with the exception of disaster recovery. However, MSPs find that charging for data usage instead of per device can create uncertainty in the minds of customers and therefore obstacles to selling the service. They also face challenges with their larger customers resulting from continually increasing data volumes, and therefore costs, under a storage-based charging model. By offering backup and disaster recovery services charged per device, MSPs can sell the service more easily and in a way that is more predictable and economical for their customers.
StorageCraft Unveils Professional Services Program
StorageCraft has announced a new offering that gives MSPs and VARs the ability to enhance backup and disaster recovery solutions and strategies for their clients. Through StorageCraft Professional Services, MSP and VAR partners can augment their efforts with a choice of full or on-demand consultation, design, and/or implementation of backup and disaster recovery services.
Partners can receive on-demand help through the StorageCraft QuickAssist program or select the more comprehensive full services program. StorageCraft QuickAssist features StorageCraft experts working remotely with partners on a specific project. The full-service option allows partners to use StorageCraft expertise on-site to design and implement a customized backup and disaster recovery infrastructure.
Tech Data Launches Reseller Marketing Portal
Tech Data Corp. launched a new marketing portal offering resellers no-cost access to customizable, automated marketing campaigns available through TDAgency, Tech Data’s full-cycle in-house marketing services agency. Offered as part of resellerCONNECT, TDAgency’s reseller marketing program, the portal arms solutions providers with a solution for implementing marketing initiatives and expanding their businesses.
Through the reseller marketing portal, Tech Data solutions providers access pre-made, effective content that they can customize and distribute to their customers. The portal also provides valuable insights through data analysis and lead scoring, including identification of key partners and most profitable markets. Other capabilities include customer relationship management (CRM) integration, campaign results analysis, and customized social media feeds.