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Top 5 Disruptive Technologies for MSPs

Top 5 Disruptive Technologies for MSPs. David Strom MSP Alliance San Jose david@strom.com , (310) 857-6867. Summary. Storage Security VOIP Server monitoring Instant messaging Let’s look at skills required, key vendors, and questions to ask them. What becomes a disruptive tech most?.

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Top 5 Disruptive Technologies for MSPs

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  1. Top 5 Disruptive Technologies for MSPs David Strom MSP Alliance San Jose david@strom.com, (310) 857-6867

  2. Summary • Storage • Security • VOIP • Server monitoring • Instant messaging Let’s look at skills required, key vendors, and questions to ask them (c) David Strom Inc.

  3. What becomes a disruptive tech most? • High margins and staying that way • Easy to enter ecosystems and acquire customers • Recurring revenue streams and monthly annuities • Close ties to customers as a trusted advisor, not just doing break/fix (c) David Strom Inc.

  4. 1. Storage • It isn’t just about selling backup tape drives anymore • Online offsite backups mature now • There are numerous types of online storage and solutions abound (c) David Strom Inc.

  5. Types of online storage • Remote hard drives for PCs and small network backups • Shared data stores for multiple users and applications • Hosting large amounts of content • Fully decentralized databases (c) David Strom Inc.

  6. Major online storage vendors • Veritas/Symantec • Iron Mountain • eVault • Amazon.com’s S3 (c) David Strom Inc.

  7. Amazon.com? • They just don’t sell books anymore • Have a simple online storage API • They are extremely cheap (cents per gigabyte per month) • Major partners: JungleDisk.com, DigiSenseInc.com (c) David Strom Inc.

  8. Questions to ask • How many data centers and where are they? • APIs documented and easy to write to? (eVault requires an NDA!) • How many partners in the program and what do they sell? (c) David Strom Inc.

  9. 2. Security • Too many different opportunities in the security space • Managed firewalls is just one of them! • Need to start someplace • Still many SMB customers without any protection whatsoever (c) David Strom Inc.

  10. Questions to ask • What size network(s) are you supporting? • How many remote branches? • Will you do the monitoring? • Does the customer need more than a firewall (wireless, VPN, anti-virus) (c) David Strom Inc.

  11. Vendors to watch • Sonicwall/Aventail • Checkpoint Software’s SofaWare • Watchguard Technologies • Barbedwire Technologies (c) David Strom Inc.

  12. 3. VOIP Opportunities • Selling business VOIP is very different from consumer-grade • Vendors are coming and going quickly (Sunrocket) • Look what happened to Skype in mid August! (c) David Strom Inc.

  13. Skills required • Understand telephony and PBX systems • Assess network infrastructure readiness • It is all about latency and QoS! • You need expertise in picking the right motherboards and setting up security (c) David Strom Inc.

  14. Four ways to go • Use ATA and analog phones (Vonage, Ooma) • PC with headset (Skype) • IP-PBX hosted (Bandwidth.com, Cbeyond.com, and even AT&T) • IP-PBX on site (Linksys and D-Link offer low-end models) (c) David Strom Inc.

  15. Questions to ask • Who handles the ISP connection? • Do I need to do all of the design and systems engineering? • Who and how will do wiring upgrade? • How many branch offices and telecommuters are required? (c) David Strom Inc.

  16. Vendors to watch • Digium’s Asterisk • Microsoft Live Communications Server • Cisco, but not because they have the right solutions (c) David Strom Inc.

  17. 4. Server Monitoring • New specialists in outsourced data centers • Don’t actually house any servers! • Don’t sell any bandwidth! • Don’t sell direct to customers! (c) David Strom Inc.

  18. Skills required • Monitoring/patching automation tools (Microsoft System Center) • VPN and remote control • How to build and staff a NOC • Don’t try to deliver other managed services (c) David Strom Inc.

  19. Vendors to watch • Clearpointe.com (Little Rock) • Bedrock.com (Madison Wisc.) (c) David Strom Inc.

  20. 5. Instant Messaging • IM is becoming more mission-critical • Archiving more compelling because of SOX and HIPAA • Remote workers need more than email and a phone • Security concerns increasing because of SPIM (c) David Strom Inc.

  21. Potential applications • IM instead of SNMP traps for notification of critical conditions • IM as “water cooler” for remote workers • IM as group knowledge base or for group chats (Parlano) (c) David Strom Inc.

  22. Questions to ask • Who owns the IM server? • How many different rooms or discussions are required? • How does the product archive and search on previous conversations? • How does the product interact with existing Active Directory or LDAP servers? • Do you want to interoperate with public IM systems such as AOL or MSN? • Can your system create rooms on the fly from one-on-one conversations? (c) David Strom Inc.

  23. Vendors to watch • IBM’s SameTime (now w/Eclipse!) • Microsoft’s LCS • Jabber • JiveSoftware • Parlano (c) David Strom Inc.

  24. Questions? (c) David Strom Inc.

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