7 Rumors, Chatter: N-able Global Partner Summit 2013

N-able Global Partner Summit continues to hum along here in Scottsdale, Ariz. There’s plenty of official news involving SolarWinds (SWI), StorageCraft and more. But what’s the chatter in the hallways? And what managed services provider (MSP) industry rumors are popping up? Here are seven rumors and observations worth tracking, according to MSPmentor.

1. Hosted Desktops: Keep a close eye on independenceIT, the hosted desktop provider. The next few weeks should be very intere$ting. And on the technology front, what if independenceIT empowered MSPs with some new Active Directory technology? Hmmm…

2. Name to Know: Brandon Shopp is a five-year SolarWinds veteran. His current post, as of June 2013: Senior director of product management for N-able. It’s a rather brilliant move by SolarWinds. Each time N-able thinks about developing a new feature or function, they can first check with Shopp to see if SolarWinds already has that feature somewhere in its own portfolio of products. Also, Shopp can help to make sure N-able begins to adopt SolarWinds’ well-known User Experience (UX) expertise. He can also help N-able to work more effectively with SolarWinds’ corporate culture.

3. Storage Balancing Act: N-able has an existing storage relationship with the CA ARCserve team. A new N-able relationship with StorageCraft has also emerged. Instead of playing favorites, N-able will let MSPs choose which storage platform to embrace.

4. Looking Even Better?: MyITprocess, a SaaS-based platform for MSP best practices, has shifted from beta to general availability for about 100 companies. Plus, a major user interface enhancement appears set to launch at the IT Nation conference in November. Gary Pica, president of TruMethods — owner of MyITprocess — was all smiles at the N-able conference…

5. Don’t Pay Digital Ransom: OpenDNS is helping MSPs to protect their customers from so-called ransomware — a form of malware that forces users to pay a ransom or face having their data encrypted. For MSPs, Dima Kumets is the name to know at OpenDNS. He’s here at the N-able conference, educating MSPs about the next generation of cloud-delvered web security. Speaking with Kumets is refreshing. Not many people can talk tech, business and MSP partner programs without skipping a beat. Kumets can. 

6. Office 365 Cloud Management War: Kaseya is buying 365 Command — an Office 365 cloud management tool. Meanwhile, N-able Senior VP Mike Cullen says his company is working on some Office 365 management tools. This sounds like fertile ground for another tools war. MSPs will surely benefit from the competition and innovations.

7. A Milestone But Not An Exit: Amid all the recent M&A activity (Insight Venture Partners buying Kaseya; AVG buying Level Platforms; SolarWinds buying N-able) dozens of executives and employees have either changed jobs, lost jobs or retired. But for the most part, N-able’s staff remains largely unchanged (other than CEO Gavin Garbutt retiring and Marco La Vecchia jumping to AVG). With that in mind, it seems like N-able GM JP Jauvin, Senior VP Mike Cullen and the rest of the team are focused on long-term growth. And that’s a good thing for MSPs.

8. Bonus Rumor — N-able Partner Awards: I’m not sure who won. I had to skip the awards ceremony in order to write this and other blogs. But I’m sure N-able will fill me in, soon.

9. Bonus Rumor 2 — Where Is Former N-able CEO Gavin Garbutt?: He exited N-able when SolarWinds acquired the company. If I had to guess, Garbutt could be back in the business game soon. Some rumors suggest he nearly attended the conference… Others suggest Canada money managers are reaching out to Garbutt to get involved with their companies. I don’t think Garbutt will return to the MSP software market. But now that sailing season is over, I suspect Garbutt is preparing to drop anchor on his next business move…

That’s all for now.