Nimsoft On Demand: New SaaS Platform for MSPs

When CA Inc. acquired Nimsoft in March 2010, the CA press briefings hyped Nimsoft’s cloud strategy quite a bit. Frankly, I was a little confused since Nimsoft’s managed services platform was only available as an on-premises solution. Fast forward to the present and Nimsoft has an answer for MSPs that want a SaaS platform. It’s called Nimsoft On Demand. Here are the details.

According to the official press release:

Translation: Nimsoft is the latest in a growing list of MSP software providers that offer on-premises as well as on-demand/SaaS options. During a phone briefing, Nimsoft Business Unit GM Gary Read said Nimsoft On Demand has the same architecture as Nimsoft’s on-premises platform — called Nimsoft Monitoring Solution. Read wanted to drive home the point that Nimsoft On Demand isn’t a dumbed-down design.

The Nimsoft On Demand platform had been under development during negotiations to sell Nimsoft to CA, and was one of the reasons CA ultimately acquired Nimsoft, Read says.

In terms of pricing, Read says Nimsoft On Demand will cost less than a traditional on premises solution (comprising hardware and software costs) but slightly more than the existing Nimsoft Monitoring Solution licensing pricing model. It sounds like Nimsoft On Demand will debut first in North America and Europe, with additional regions coming online over time.

Nimsoft has briefed partners about Nimsoft On Demand in recent weeks. True believers apparently include the Ingram Micro Seismic team. The Seismic team, which helps VARs to become MSPs, already offers Nimsoft Monitoring Solution as an on-premises option to the Seismic partner ecosystem. Sources say the Seismic team will ultimately promote Nimsoft On Demand to VARs and MSPs that prefer a SaaS approach. It’s part of an ongoing strategy to offer multiple solutions to the Seismic ecosystem. (For instance, Seismic also has a relationship with Level Platforms in the remote monitoring space.)

A Look Inside CA Inc.

Meanwhile, CA says Nimsoft On Demand expands the company’s portfolio of IT Management SaaS solutions – which include CA Clarity PPM On Demand and CA ecoSoftware. CA acquired Nimsoft as part of a strategy to more aggressively promote SaaS, cloud, MSP and emerging enterprise solutions.

Nimsoft insiders say the combination with CA is off to a solid start. But CA itself continues to undergo a transformation. Sources say CA may be looking to sell off a product line or business unit in the next few weeks. CA declined to comment about that speculation, but we continue to work hard to gather more details.

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