By Joseph Walker, Contributing Blogger, SMB Nation

The fourth quarter of 2011 saw executives from IBM, Microsoft, Dell, HP and Cisco all affirming their commitment to the SMB channel and its importance to future revenue growth. Now Xerox has jumped into the fray with three new cloud services for its fleet of VARs and other partners. As Xerox often does, it will rely primarily on channel partners to sell its new services. 

The three cloud solutions are "click-and-pick" easy IaaS provisioning, cloud backup, and disaster recovery. Each service boasts high-performance, high-reliability features (and will be priced accordingly). While Xerox noted that their target market is SMBs, the company's press release specifically mentioned organizations with $10 to $250 million in annual revenue.

Xerox's decision to target that revenue band somewhat puzzles me, as most companies within their indicated range have already made substantial investments in on-premise IT infrastructure. Except in the case of businesses with aging equipment, I would expect IT departments to lean towards hybrid cloud solutions that allow for the easy integration of existing servers with newly deployed cloud ones.

[Read the rest of this article...]

This morning, GFI Software said that more than 5,000 of its MSPs are now using GFI MAX RemoteManagement™ to support more than 65,000 networks worldwide. As a result of this number, it will more than double the GFI MAX customer base over the last two years, with strong growth both in the U.S. and internationally.

“We’ve successfully grown our partner base by focusing on what MSPs need to profitably grow their businesses,” Dr. Alistair Forbes, general manager of the GFI MAX Business Unit, said in a press release. “That starts with an easily deployed RMM platform, competitive pricing and simple billing, and a commitment to enhancing the solution through the integration of new services to create incremental revenue opportunities for our partners.”

Through the GFI MAX dashboard—with which MSPs remotely manage all of their customers’ networks in one consolidated view—MSPs can also deploy managed antivirus, patch management and vulnerability scanning, as well as remotely controlling desktops and workstations.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Today, a leading technology management and consulting firm, Quest has announced that it will be partnering with Desktone, Inc. a leading provider of Desktops-as-a-Service. This partnership will allow Quest to offer full-featured and cost-effective desktops on-demand to their customer’s devices.

Quest, a NetApp Service Proivder Partner, is able to work closely with Desktone, Inc. as a result of the DaaS provider’s recent collaboration with NetApp in August of 2011. Quest currently provides solutions and technology consulting to a wide range of enterprises, from the SMB to the Fortune 500 company. Quest is excited to be able to offer turnkey virtual desktops and servers to their customers. Tim Burke, CEO of Quest, explained in a press release today:

[Read the rest of this article...]

Level Platforms said its Managed Workplace RMM platform will now be pre-installed on the Intel Hybrid Cloud platform and included in the Intel AppUp Small Business Service.

With Level Platforms Managed Workplace, Intel service providers can now remotely manage all IP-based technologies throughout their end-customers’ networks, address and remediate any issues, and improve uptime. This results in lower services costs, recurring revenues, and faster, proactive response to customer issues.

Now through Level Platforms, Intel AppUp Small Business Service customers will be able to leverage the full functionality of Managed Workplace through the Intel AppUp Small Business Service RMM Service Center dashboard across their entire customer network at no cost for 30 days. This includes detailed asset discovery and management, remote monitoring, alerting, remote control and remediation, automation, reporting, warranty status, patch management and Network Audits, used by many MSPs to engage prospective clients and discover customer issues in need of attention.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Yesterday, Quest Software, Inc., a leading software manufacturing company released their vWorkspace 7.5, a solution aimed at providing cost-effective desktop virtualization to all sizes of company. The solution is especially optimized for companies that are currently using Microsoft Hyper-V.

The latest vWorkspace platform offers direct Hyper-V integration, as well as quick and easy provisioning and desktop virtualization load balancing capabilities. vWorkspace has introduced their “Instant Provisioning” Technology, which allows most virtual desktops to be up and running in seconds. Direct support for Hyper-V and a free Hyper-V server are also included. Users can use local storage (DAS) as opposed to allocating funds to SAN storage. Two-factor authentication support is available to ensure the security of users’ information.  Projections from Quest’s cost and performance analysis are rating this solution at a 33% cost savings per user.

Jon Roll, VP of Product Management and User Workspace Management at Quest Software, is pleased with the new solution: “Quest vWorkspace 7.5 introduces a game-changing set of features and advances to enable companies of all sizes to adopt desktop virtualization by taking advantage of one of the lowest cost solutions available,” he said in a press release yesterday. “In fact, our research tells us that vWorkspace 7.5 could save organizations as much as 33 percent of their VDI CapEx cost per user compared to competing products. Combine that strong value proposition with automated Desktop Cloud management, WAN support for Lync/Communicator and automation around Session Host/Terminal Server deployment and you have a compelling, industry-leading offering.”

For more information about the Quest vWorkspace 7.5 solution, please see the site here. Quest has also released a video showcasing the new vWorkspace 7.5 in action here. 

More Information about Quest Software, Inc.

Contact Quest Software, Inc.
Jennifer Bernas
949-754-8241
jennifer.bernas(at)quest(dot)com

See the Press Release Here

[Read the rest of this article...]

Zeacom reported today that its Zeacom Communications Center (ZCC) contact center software is now available for Lync – Microsoft’s software telephony platform. The announcement follows a successful beta program that saw ZCC deployed at Lync sites in Northern Europe and Asia Pacific. Zeacom is known among Microsoft Managed ISVs for Lync with the resources to help organizations build out their helpdesk, call center or multimedia contact center to the Lync platform.
 
Zeacom has more than 4,000 customer sites worldwide and had been delivering enterprise-class contact center functionality on 3 of the world’s most prevalent telephony platforms for 17 years. With the release of ZCC for Lync, organizations now have more choices when it comes to moving their existing contact center solution from one voice platform to another. Targeting up to 400 seats on Lync, ZCC allows contact centers to control the delivery of every contact – from voice calls and email to SMS and social media alerts.
 
Since its inception, Zeacom has maintained a channel-only sales model and has a team of subject-matter experts committed to supporting its partners worldwide, allowing them to build profitable relationships around Business Process Automation.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Harrybbb will be in beautiful Portland, OR this week for the Cloud Intelligence Conference! Stop by to say hello and network with your fellow peers!

The Cloud Intelligence Conference is a one-day crash course in all things Cloud. Attendees come away with best practices, new techniques and a better understanding of this rapidly evolving technology. This year, the famous Buck Woody, Senior Technical Specialist for Microsoft, will be one of the keynote speakers!

The conference runs from 8:00am to 5:30 pm on Thursday, February 2, 2012. The Cloud Intelligence Conference Staff are currently offering a special discount to SMB Nation Tribal Members. Sign up here with the code SMB249 to save on pass price! We look forward to seeing you there!

[Read the rest of this article...]

Date: Thursday, February 2, 2012

Time: 10:00-11:00am PST

Speakers:

• Harry Brelsford
• Jeff Wald
  
• Eric Castro
  

The web is changing the way everyone does business.  The use of search engines and websites has changed how you market your business, but have you used a labor platform?  If some of the largest service buyers are using platforms to manage their service, should you create a free account and get additional revenue?

Register Here!

[Read the rest of this article...]