Managed Service Provider Week in Review

Cloud infrastructure, partnerships and big data analytics made headlines in the managed services space this week. More and more service providers are forming alliances on the infrastructure front, freeing them up to provide a huge number of forward-facing services and applications. And large organizations and their decision-makers are also rapidly discovering the benefits of managed and cloud services on a number of fronts, making big-ticket purchases that will have a lasting impact on the industry.

Perhaps one of the biggest deals came from storage company NetApp. The company announced strengthened partnerships with Microsoft Azure on the cloud side, and data center provider Equinix on the network side. The result is the NetApp Private Storage for Microsoft Azure solution, which facilitates hybrid cloud environments and bridges IT infrastructure with the Azure cloud. The offering is available exclusively through Equinix International Exchange data centers.

The Cleveland Indians have gone the managed and automated IT security route, contracting with AccelOps on an IT operations analytics platform. The solution will boost the team’s IP security surveillance and provide real-time analytics and alerts to handle security problems instantly. The platform offers monitoring of security, performance and system availability and also provides insight for SIEM through a single platform.

On the video services front, MSP Converged Technology Group has achieved Cisco’s TelePresence Video Advanced Authorized Technology Provider designation. The company provides Cisco TelePresence video solutions as part of its managed unified communications and cloud offerings to give clients a fully managed UC solution including IP telephony.

And when it comes to cloud-based document management and managed printing services, high-level decision-makers are increasingly recognizing their importance. A new Workflow Optimization Study from Canon reveals the cloud is being integrated in workflow optimization, including digital document flow and managed workflow solutions. A majority of IT decision-makers also believe managed print services are very important to their business, based on mobility, accessibility, flexibility and cost savings.