Seven Managed Services Blog Entries We Didn't Write: March 26

In theory, our team is set to begin the weekend in a few hours. But in reality, we’ve got our hands full with some travel planning that will take us to Miami, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Silicon Valley over the next four weeks. Oh, and potentially one other stop. But more on that later. In the meantime, here are seven managed services blog entries MSPmentor’s team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending March 26.

7. Where’s that Video?: I’m feeling a bit like Pam and Tommy Lee… lots of people are asking me about some missing video(s)… all G Rated of course. In this case, the videos involve FastChat interviews with N-able CEO Gavin Garbutt, and key channel executives from Kaspersky Lab and Brocade. Fortunately, the videos are on my hard drive. Soon, they’ll hit the web. Stay tuned.

6. Birds of a Feather…: Roaring Penguin Software Inc., an anti-spam specialist, has expanded its technology alliance with N-able.

5. Who’s Driving?: Fiat Group has shifted to a managed print services contract — overseen by Xerox. Next up, Xerox needs to announce more managed print services deals driven by partners.

4. Shot Dead?: McAfee apparently has killed its SnapGear appliances in “an effort to streamline McAfee channel offerings and expenses.” Some MSPs and VARs are up in arms about the decision. I’m still digging for some facts.

3. Keeping An Open Mind: A key veteran of Parallels and Apptix — the hosted Exchange provider — has joined Open-Xchange, the open source email provider. Why should MSPs care? Open-Xchange has serious momentum with hosting partners, including some smaller MSPs. I’ll share more details next week.

2. Let’s Try This Again: Registration has opened for Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2010. The 2009 event was heavy on Windows 7 and Office 2010 promotions to the reseller masses, but light on MSP attendance (according to my observations). I’ll be curious to see how many MSPs and recurring revenue pros Microsoft attracts to the 2010 conference.

1. Surprise Appearance?: Salesforce.com apparently is heading to Dallas in June… to participate in a managed services conference that has a cloud hook. Is this the start of something bigger for Salesforce.com? I’m checking into it.

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