Dell Software: PacketTrap MSP, PSA Is Business As Usual

quest-Michael-Sotnick-6_11

Sotnick and Dell Channel Chief Greg Davis have been briefing partners about the Dell-Quest deal in recent weeks. Roughly 70 percent of Quest’s top partners are Dell PartnerDirect members, so the synergies going forward should materialize quickly, the executives said during a call with MSPmentor today.

Still, Quest’s PacketTrap business involves a slightly different discussion — since MSPs run the software to manage their businesses, rather than reselling the software into end-customer settings. “Smaller regional service providers, historically, have been the target for PacketTrap,” said Sotnick. “But more recently our emphasis has grown to be more national and global in nature.”

With that reality in mind, PacketTrap has taken multiple steps forward. The company extended beyond remote monitoring and management (RMM) software to acquire Bluefolder, a cloud-based PSA (professional services automation) company in early 2012. Sometime in 2013, I suspect we’ll see PacketTrap offer an integrated, end-to-end cloud solution that blankets RMM and PSA.

In some ways, companies like PacketTrap, ConnectWise–LabTech Software and Kaseya (with fledgling PSA capabilities) have been blurring the lines between PSA and RMM software. But other camps — including RMM software companies aligned with Autotask — have not blurred those lines.

Meanwhile, watch for Quest Software to connect the dots between PacketTrap and Dell’s other software portfolio capabilities. Sotnick suggested that MSPs running PacketTrap can potentially benefit from Boomi, a cloud integration platform. “We think we’ll offer a richer and richer solution portfolio to [MSPs] who run their back offices on [PacketTrap],’ said Sotnick.

More information may surface at DellWorld, an early December 2012 conference that will attract CIOs, corporate customers and roughly 400 to 450 channel partners, said Davis.

While Dell may not offer deep, granular PacketTrap details at the conference, Dell Software President John Swainson is expected to share plenty of thoughts about how the hardware giant is marching toward $5 billion in annual software revenues. And PacketTrap will certainly grab a slice of that software revenue pie.