Top 5 Disruptive Technologies for MSPs

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Top 5 Disruptive Technologies for MSPs

• David Strom
• MSP Alliance San Jose
• david_at_strom.com, [phone]

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Summary

• Storage
• Security
• VOIP
• Server monitoring
• Instant messaging
• Lets look at skills required, key vendors, and
  questions to ask them

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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

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1. Storage

• It isnt just about selling backup tape drives
  anymore
• Online offsite backups mature now
• There are numerous types of online storage and
  solutions abound

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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

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Major online storage vendors

• Veritas/Symantec
• Iron Mountain
• eVault
• Amazon.coms S3

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Amazon.com?

• They just dont sell books anymore
• Have a simple online storage API
• They are extremely cheap (cents per gigabyte per
  month)
• Major partners JungleDisk.com, DigiSenseInc.com

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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?

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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

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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)

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Vendors to watch

• Sonicwall/Aventail
• Checkpoint Softwares SofaWare
• Watchguard Technologies
• Barbedwire Technologies

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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!

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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

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Four ways to go

• Use ATA and analog phones (Vonage, Ooma)
• PC with headset (Skype)
• IP-PBX hosted (Bandwidth.com, Cbeyond.com, and
  even ATT)
• IP-PBX on site (Linksys and D-Link offer low-end
  models)

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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?

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Vendors to watch

• Digiums Asterisk
• Microsoft Live Communications Server
• Cisco, but not because they have the right
  solutions

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4. Server Monitoring

• New specialists in outsourced data centers
• Dont actually house any servers!
• Dont sell any bandwidth!
• Dont sell direct to customers!

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Skills required

• Monitoring/patching automation tools (Microsoft
  System Center)
• VPN and remote control
• How to build and staff a NOC
• Dont try to deliver other managed services

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Vendors to watch

• Clearpointe.com (Little Rock)
• Bedrock.com (Madison Wisc.)

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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

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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)

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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?

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Vendors to watch

• IBMs SameTime (now w/Eclipse!)
• Microsofts LCS
• Jabber
• JiveSoftware
• Parlano

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Questions?