Maclean, IBM Extend From Managed Services to the Cloud

Managed services providers in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) are starting to gain momentum in the cloud computing market. The latest example: Maclean, which was Kaseya‘s 2010 MSP of the Year for ANZ, has inked a deal with IBM to help midsize customers embrace cloud computing. Here are the details.

Maclean will offer midsize customers IBM Virtual Server Services (VSS). The IBM VSS gives clients access to a shared virtualized infrastructure that’s hosted in an IBM’s new $80 million Highbrook Data Center in Auckland, New Zealand. This isn’t the first time Maclean and IBM have partnered. In fact, IBM won the Top Vendor award at Maclean’s third annual awards night in Auckland in 2010.

MSPmentor estimates that Australia’s cloud computing wave is roughly 12 to 18 months behind that of the United States. During an MSPmentor tour of Australia in 2008, dozens of MSPs expressed doubts about cloud computing — mostly because of broadband limitations in rural areas.

Still, it’s clear that top MSPs in Australia and New Zealand have been formalizing cloud strategies in the past year. Kaseya and Ingram Micro have a SaaS partnership that delivers managed services tools to Australia MSPs. And at least one of Australia’s best-known MSPs will surface on the Talkin’ Cloud 50 report when it debuts in the few days. The Talkin’ Cloud 50 tracks the top VARs and MSPs working in the cloud.

Additional insights from Joe Panettieri. Sign up for MSPmentor’s Weekly Enewsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow us via RSS, Facebook, Identi.ca and Twitter. Check out more MSP voices at www.MSPtweet.com. Read our editorial disclosure here.