Eaton deepens MSP strategy with ConnectWise RMM integration

Power management vendor Eaton already has MSP partners, but until now, they had no integrations with RMM vendors. They have now finalized their first, with ConnectWise, and they are looking for more.

ORLANDO – Power management company Eaton has made their first Remote Management and Monitoring [RMM] integration, with ConnectWise Automate. While the company has an MSP channel for their UPS [uninterruptible power systems] and ePDU [enclosure power distribution unit] devices, they have not had this kind of integration before. The company was at the ConnectWise IT Nation event here to talk with partners, and make some new ones.

While power management is commonly associated with hardware devices and on-prem deployments, Eaton has had MSP partners for years.

“We also have Intelligent Power Management Software, which gives full management capability through a network card,” said Joshua Cornick, Channel Marketing Manager at Eaton. “MSPs have had to go through our dashboard, but they have been able to use that to remotely manage customers’ power supplies. They can monitor the power and shut off each individual outlet if needed. It’s a very strong business continuity service for them.”

Much of Eaton’s power portfolio came from their 2004 acquisition of Powerware, which always differentiated itself as a high-end play in the market.

“We still make that enterprise differentiation, and we do have a great warranty on our products,” Cornick said. “We have multiple products, however, and MSPs do not typically use our enterprise ones, although sometimes they do if it is a site where there is dirty power coming in.”

Eaton has been at a disadvantage in the MSP space because competitors like APC have had integrations with the RMM players, including ConnectWise.

“While we had MSP solutions, we have not been aggressive in partnering with the RMM companies,” Cornick said. “So we decided to start with the biggest one. The certification for the integration with ConnectWise came in two weeks ago, and it went on the ConnectWise Marketplace.”

At this stage, the ConnectWise integration is fairly limited, but Eaton would like to extend it.

“Right now, it’s just alerts,” Cornick said. “We would like to build the relationship out further, because we want to be able to fully manage through the  ticketing system.”

They would also like additional integrations with other vendors

“We are fairly new to the integration market but are looking at integrating with many partners,” Cornick indicated. “Our integration strategy has really been focused on working with the hyperconverged vendors – Nutanix, Cisco, VMware and Dell EMC. We want to integrate with everybody.”

Cornick said that Eaton had received a good response at the IT Nation show.

“We talked with some old MSP customers, who are very familiar with us, but we talked with potential new customers as well,” he stated. “We got some new opportunities here.”