The new platform offers new functionality for MSPs, allowing them to now offer customers support services troubleshooting, diagnosing and remediating help desk issues.
JP Jauvin, general manager, SolarWinds N-able
Remote monitoring and management and service automation software provider SolarWinds N-able has announced both a new name, and its new N-central 10 platform, which the company sees as an extremely significant release, in part because it expands the lifecycle of services their MSP partners will be able to provide to their customers.
“We are very excited about N-central 10.0, which is one of the biggest releases we have ever had in the company’s history, and possibly the biggest,” said JP Jauvin, general manager, SolarWinds N-able. “Our MSP customers are also very excited about this.”
Jauvin said that this version of N-central allows MSPs to provide new services to their customers which previous versions did not offer.
“It will let them span the lifecycle of services they provide to their customers,” he said. “In the past we were a NOC solution with very deep monitoring. With N-central 10.0, our customers now view it as equally strong in providing some support services and a hands-on tool for technicians.”
These new capabilities for MSPs to troubleshoot, diagnose and remediate help desk issues come through a new feature module called Direct Support.
“It is a battery of tools to troubleshoot, diagnose and remediate problems,” Jauvin said. “It is a single pane of glass integrated with the rest of our framework.”
N-central 10.0 also has an entirely new user interface, with a more streamlined and simplified user experience.
“This is really our first major release in co-operation with SolarWinds, and they have products that are exceptionally intuitive and easy to use,” Jauvin said. “We have leveraged some of their best practices to make sure our products are equally easy to use. They also coincided with feedback from customers. It’s very different, but the user experience elements make it natural to adjust.” The new interface was successfully tested in beta.
This release also enhances the N-central integrations with major professional services automation (PSA) vendors, including Autotask, and ConnectWise. They offer improved workflows and interoperability to help MSPs resolve client issues faster, update and close tickets and manage billing directly from within the N-central platform.
“Being able to update and work on tickets in N-central, and not having to toggle back and forth with the PSA platforms, really makes the workflow more efficient.” Jauvin said. “Some of our customers have called this the best in the industry.”
N-central 10.0 also expands support for drag-and-drop automation and support for real-time direct support tools as a-la-carte licenses.
“We have now made it available as to all of the devices,” Jauvin said. “Previously, it was provided for customers that had purchased Professional licenses. Now it applies to the free licensing option, the Essentials licenses, as well.”
Other enhancements include a new “device overview” page, which provides detailed information for each client device in a single dashboard to better manage tickets and quickly troubleshoot issues, and improvements to the NOC and the help desk, offering automated device discovery, AV/patch deployment, backup, remediation/self-healing and advanced reporting.
The company also announced that it has been rebranded to SolarWinds N-able, replacing the name originally brought in after the acquisition, N-able by SolarWinds.
“The rebranding is a reaffirmation of SolarWinds’ commitment to the MSP channel,” Jauvin said.
Derek Belair, SolarWinds N-able’s vice president of marketing and business development
Derek Belair, SolarWinds N-able’s vice president of marketing and business development, said the SolarWinds primary branding will be good for N-able’s business.
“The SolarWinds name has a good positive brand,” he said. “People here are really keyed up to start using the name.”
Jauvin said N-able has shown impressive results since being acquired by SolarWinds, with new subscription business sales increasing by 30 per cent on a reported basis and 39 per cent on a constant currency basis in Q1. They also had a strong customer retention quarter in the MSP business, with dollar-based retention rates for subscription and maintenance customers at the highest levels in the company’s history.
“The latest Q1 results from SolarWinds really highlight N-able’s contribution,” Jauvin said. “You will see continued innovation from N-able in the future.”
