The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy suspects most CA employees — and most VARs — had never heard of Nimsoft before today. But CA’s $350 million buyout of Nimsoft represents a dramatic wake-up call for channel partners and big software companies (um, did somebody say Microsoft?) across the globe. Here’s why.

For the second consecutive quarter, Wall Street wasn’t impressed with Dell’s financial performance, but the hardware giant seems to be making continued progress with channel partners. Dell Channel Chief Greg Davis and other team members gave The VAR Guy a few updates today. Take a look.

How many managed service providers can push beyond $10 million in annual recurring revenue? Is there a well-defined path to such success? The VAR Guy’s sister site, MSPmentor, will offer some answers during a webcast today (January 20). Our guest speakers — representing three top managed service providers and Nimsoft — will cover key questions for growth-oriented small, midsize and large MSPs. Here’s a closer look at the webcast.

How many managed service providers can push beyond $10 million in annual recurring revenue? Is there a well-defined path to such success? The VAR Guy’s sister site, MSPmentor, will offer some answers during a January 20 webcast. Our guest speakers — representing three top managed service providers and Nimsoft — will cover key questions for growth-oriented small, midsize and large MSPs. Here’s a closer look at the webcast.

Here’s a look at the top 10 managed services stories making headlines on MSPmentor (The VAR Guy’s sister site) this week.

1. MSPAlliance Launches SAS 70 Audits for Managed Service Providers
2. MSPs Introduce Service Level Refunds
3. Will the Managed Services Bubble Burst?
4. MSP and SAS 70 Certifications Gain Momentum
5. VirtualAdministrator Expands Master MSP Staff
6. Nimsoft Reaches Out to Cisco Partners
7. Open Source vs. Closed Source: The Managed Services Debate
8. Would You Guarantee Your MSP Prices — for a Lifetime?
9. SunGard Managed Services Offers Financial Incentives
10. Why Some MSPs Are About to Lose Customers

Keep hanging out with The VAR Guy (he loves the company). But our resident blogger won’t be insulted if you occasionally stop by MSPmentor as well.

Who are the world’s top 100 managed service providers — and what can you learn from them? You can find out if you join us on February 11 at 2:00pm eastern for MSPmentor Live: Meet the World’s Top 100 MSPs.

The VAR Guy’s sister site — MSPmentor — offers non-stop coverage of the managed services market, where more and more VARs are generating recurring monthly revenue from customers. Here’s a look at the top 10 stories making headlines on MSPmentor this week.

Talk about a market disruption. In some scenarios, GroundWork Open Source says the company’s IT monitoring software costs 82-percent less than Hewlett-Packard Operations Manager and Network Node Manager. Apparently, Hewlett-Packard is fuming mad over the price comparison.

Sometimes, bad or stressful news for one company spells opportunity for another. Consider the situation at GroundWork Open Source, a systems management company that competes with Hewlett-Packard OpenView. Apparently, GroundWork Open Source is looking to capitalize on the layoff news out of HP. Here’s a look.