Dell KACE: Targeting Kaseya in Managed Services, IT Management?

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Generally speaking, I believe Kaseya’s installed base of enterprise accounts and MSPs continues to grow at a healthy pace. And I haven’t heard of any MSPs or enterprise IT administrators jumping from Kaseya to Dell KACE. But Dell’s strategy caught my attention because I believe Dell’s managed services strategy remains in evolution mode.

Dell acquired KACE in February 2010. By early 2011, Dell started pitching KACE to government customers. And then Dell in July 2011 introduced the KACE M300 Asset Management Appliance, a $2,500 solution that is designed for small businesses with up to roughly 200 nodes. It supports hardware and software inventory, software license compliance, asset tracking and management.

I’m curious to know how the Dell KACE appliance strategy compares to Dell’s Managed Services strategy. For MSPs, Dell offers Remote Infrastructure Monitoring (RIM), which leverages Dell’s 2007 buyout of Silverback Technologies. What are the potential synergies between Dell KACE and Dell RIM? I need to ask Dell for a briefing.

Meanwhile, Dell has certainly tried to target Kaseya before but I don’t think the strategy won Dell much business. Back in 2007, Kaseya CEO Gerald Blackie largely dismissed Dell’s buyout of Silverback as a competitive threat.