- IT Nation Connect: CEO Says ‘Asio Ready for Prime Time’
- Ingram Micro ONE Brings a Dose of Reality to AI Hype
- Bellini Capital Company NineMinds Debuts Free Open Source PSA for MSPs
- Cisco Investing $80M in All-New Partner Program to ‘Uplevel Their Skill Sets’
Each week, MSSP Alert brings you channel-focused business news from our affiliate site ChannelE2E.
We know that security service providers care about more than cybersecurity. There are business issues, news about tools, artificial intelligence advancements, and more.
Here’s a look at the top headlines for the week from ChannelE2E.
IT Nation Connect: CEO Says ‘Asio Ready for Prime Time’
ConnectWise executives announced general availability of the company’s cloud-based MSP tools platform Asio at their IT Nation Connect keynotes, saying it is ready for broad adoption. The company’s new CEO Manny Rivelo told the audience of 4,500 MSPs that the platform is already seeing some momentum.
“I’m here to tell you that we are at this tipping point,” Rivelo said. “I’m here to tell you that it is ready for prime time.”
A total of 3200 MSPs are now using the cloud-based MSP tools platform RMM and there are over 5,000 partners on the platform overall, he said. But for the most part, partners have not yet gotten fully onboard with Asio. ChannelE2E spoke to one partner who was using Asio RMM, but had not yet moved to the PSA because they were waiting for the platform to be ready.
In a press statement, ConnectWise said that PSA in Asio is now in preview in North America, EMEA, and APAC regions, providing partners with the opportunity to utilize their live PSA data within Asio, ensuring seamless integration and visibility of any changes made during the preview experience.
Ingram Micro ONE Brings a Dose of Reality to AI Hype
Paul Bay, CEO of Ingram Micro, addressed a global audience of 2,200 in-person and nearly 1,000 virtual at the tech distributor's ONE Innovation Summit, emphasizing the company's commitment to innovation and collaboration.
On the heels of the company's IPO in early October, Bay highlighted key industry trends, including consolidation, the importance of AI, cloud services, and the need for scalable, global solutions. He also discussed the challenges channel partners, resellers, and MSPs face, including resource constraints, cybersecurity, and regulatory demands, and the role Ingram Micro can play to help partners -- and their customers -- meet those challenges.
Partners would do well, Bay said, to leverage AI, but to avoid AI-washing and focus instead on real, proven use cases where it can add value and deliver tangible outcomes. Bay repeatedly cited Ingram's AI-powered, self-learning platform Xvantage, which uses automation intelligence and machine learning to personalize data insights that are tailored to Ingram Micro’s partners. Xvantage also includes real-time transactional benefits such as up-to-the-minute order status, tracking, renewals, subscription billing, and real-time customer service capabilities. Xvantage first launched in late 2022 with a mobile app available in 2023.
Bellini Capital Company NineMinds Debuts Free Open Source PSA for MSPs
NineMinds, a Bellini Capital company focused on AI tools to help MSPs automate some ticketing functions, is rolling out a new and disruptive tool for the MSP market – an open source PSA (professional services automation) platform. CEO Robert Isaacs told ChannelE2E about the development, plans and timeline at IT Nation Connect.
Called Alga PSA, the open-source tool will be available in two main ways.
- Organizations can download it and run it on premises starting now in its preproduction state for free.
- They can also use the hosted version which will be available by the end of the year. Isaacs didn’t have exact pricing for the hosted version yet but said it should be in the range of $15 per user per month.
That’s a disruptive price for the PSA market.
Cisco Investing $80M in All-New Partner Program to ‘Uplevel Their Skill Sets’
Cisco is dramatically revamping its 30-year-old global partner program with an $80 million investment that aims to provide broad new training, sales, and educational services to help its partners expand their sales and services using AI and other modern enterprise-ready technologies. The new Cisco 360 Partner Program will be launched by Cisco in February 2026 after a 15-month ramp up period that will help partners ready their operations for the new program offerings, according to the company.
Developed in collaboration with Cisco partners, the expanded and rebuilt new program is slated to help partners better serve the complex needs of customers who want to explore and use new products and services in fast-moving market segments, including AI, infrastructure modernization, and cybersecurity.
One of Cisco’s first moves is an investment of $80 million, which will be used to boost skills and provide the tools needed to help partners compete in the market, according to Cisco. About $60 million will provide partners benefits, including all-access Cisco U. subscriptions for skill development and certification. Another $20 million will pay for quarterly self-paced learning, hands-on labs, and continuing education credits for all partners, focusing on AI, security, and networking.
