Having exited the consumer market in Canada, Toshiba is beefing up their B2B offerings, and has partnered with Brampton managed services provider IT Weapons to provide what will be a growing package of services and support.
The company formerly known as GFI MAX is introducing a new DRaaS pricing option that charges by the device instead of data usage, something they believe will especially appeal to partners serving larger customers.
Tech Data inks deals with Intel Security and Mobi, showing the further inclusion of vendor offerings in the emerging “subscription economy” in the channel.
AVG’s SMB-focused business unit has added so many new sales and support staff they outgrew their old offices, and they are still in aggressive growth mode, recruiting new partners to sell their managed services.
The Canadian cloud-based network management software provider has modified its software to produce a version for the MSP market that has some pluses it believes are missing from the market now. The plan is to sell it direct for a while to establish proof of concept while they work on building a proper channel program.
Microsoft’s announcement that it will set up data centres in Toronto and Quebec City is big news for Microsoft, for the provinces and cities involved – and for Microsoft partners.
CompTIA data indicate that customer knowledge of managed services is up significantly over last year, and that emphasis on cost saving is no longer their main concern. This should impact the way that MSPs sell their offerings.
The new cloud offering comes from a Canadian-based datacentre, and is designed to appeal to SMBs as well as midmarket customers considering cloud.
The new cloud-only solution is targeted at customers who don’t want the expense or trouble or deploying a physical or virtual device locally, and is expected to significantly increase the number of Axcient’s MSP partners.
Citrix’s major announcement at Synergy this year provides huge new opportunities for both CSP and CSA partners, and the channel strategy being finalized is designed to ensure partners who move to the cloud with WorkSpace Cloud will be treated the same way as on-prem partners.
The highlight of the first day at Citrix Synergy was the announcement of Citrix Workspace Cloud, a platform of services for the creation of complete workspaces with a strong MSP play.
The new platform offers new functionality for MSPs, allowing them to now offer customers support services troubleshooting, diagnosing and remediating help desk issues.
Version 3.0 of their software will significantly enhance ease of use for the company’s MSP and VAR partners, and also will facilitate white labelling of the product.
While new workforce automation solutions were the highlight of this week’s Xerox announcements, their limited channel relevance makes some less showy cloud and MPS solutions and tools the big takeaway for partners.
The SYNNEX Canada president also indicated they want to expand the GovSolv practice area in Canada, and see considerable untapped potential for Solv solutions in the pure small business space.
Project Helios, which is expected to be generally available sometime next year, will initially complement Kaseya’s core VSA solution, but is likely to be preferred by net-new customers and in the long run could well become Kaseya’s flagship solution.
OnX Managed Services is a fast-growing part of the solution provider’s business, which now accounts for almost 40 per cent of its earnings.
HP’s first Canadian SOC will overcome objections about a lack of Canadian delivery from some customers, notably in the federal government.
Brand new features include Outlook Calendar integration and Quickbooks Online integration, with integration of more accounting software on the roadmap.
Today’s SMBs want to see evidence of innovation from their trusted advisors, but at the same time, solution providers should avoid falling into a false either-or trap – either you get on the cutting edge and change your business model, or you will be out of business soon.
