MSP Update: What’s in Store for Pax8 Beyond

Each week MSSP Alert, in addition to our usual cybersecurity coverage, we bring you news, analysis and insights from the managed services side of the business. From our affiliate brand, ChannelE2E, our coverage includes topics such as artificial intelligence, MSP IT management tools, mergers and acquisitions in the MSSP and MSP market, and other business information and news, too.

This week we give you a preview of Pax8 Beyond, the second annual event from the Colorado-based marketplace for MSPs. Senior managing editor Sharon Florentine will be on the ground at the event and report back on the big trends she sees there including, of course, AI and cybersecurity, as well as any Pax8 company news.

This week also features a look at how telecom service providers, whose traditional business models have been disrupted, are looking more like managed service providers. As such, they are adopting tools that are standard in the MSP market, including PSA. We’ve also got news about an expanded free backup option for MSPs. Check it out below. Here’s our roundup of MSP news for this week.

Pax8 Beyond: What’s in Store for 2024

Ever since Jessica C. Davis got back from Pax8 Beyond 2023, she hasn't stopped raving about the event. In her words, "I really think it's one of the best channel events of the year." So, when she asked me if I wanted to attend this year, of course I said, "Yes!"

Last year, Pax8 Beyond attracted 86 vendor sponsors and more than 1,100 partner attendees -- a sold out crowd for the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in Denver, Colorado. It's sold out again this year, which speaks to the great content and interest from analysts, vendors, channel partners and MSPs, not to mention those of us who write about this stuff!

The agenda seems to focus on many of the major themes resonating in the larger IT industry: Diversity, equity and inclusion, AI, cybersecurity and growing your business. All of these are increasingly important for MSPs, many of whom are SMBs.

I'm especially interested in the half day devoted to women in tech on Sunday -- I plan on attending the panel discussion and the happy hour. There will be multiple keynotes (from Pax8, of course, Microsoft, SentinelOne, CrowdStrike and SuperOps.ai, among others) and breakout sessions and, despite being the opposite of a 'morning person,' I can't wait for the Tuesday breakfast session on Protecting Your MSP: Wrong Answers Only with Matt Lee and a panel of cybersecurity experts. I'll get up early for that one, for sure.

Read the complete story here.

Telecom Providers Adapt to Digital Era as PSA Market Heats Up

There's been a lot of talk about convergence lately, most of it in the context of cybersecurity. But telecommunications services providers (TSPs) and managed services providers (MSPs) are also converging, and that is driving a major opportunity for the channel, especially with regard to professional services automation (PSA). According to Grandview Research, the market for PSA software is poised to nearly double within the next seven years. This growth raises important issues and will have a substantial impact on the telecommunications and MSP industries.

Evan Rice, president and COO of Rev.IO—a billing software company that specializes in enhancing the efficiency of MSPs, IoT, and telecom companies—said traditional telecommunications services providers are rapidly transforming as they embrace broader markets, and are driving convergence with MSPs.

"There are unique aspects of telecoms that make them prime for disruption through PSA," Rice said. "First, they deliver the most critical connectivity layer that the rest of the tech stack rests on. But also, second, telecoms are seeing a kind of 'race to zero' as far as cost -- Google Meet is free and Microsoft Teams is included in the productivity suite, for example. So, that's driving down margins on these services and they have to replace that revenue stream. They don’t want to be left out, so they have to diversify. On the MSP side, they have a slightly different issue; they are used to putting services together and delivering these, even with professional services, and it’s natural outgrowth of what they’re doing. They might have a PSA practice, but they don’t have the tools for telecom specifically," he explained.

Read the complete story here.

MSP360 Doubles Storage Limits for Free Backup Solution

Backup and IT management solutions provider MSP360 has introduced a significant upgrade to the free edition of its backup solution, the company announced today. Customers using MSP360 Free Backup can now store up to 500 GB with select public cloud providers, doubling the previous limit of 250 GB, CEO Brian Helwig told ChannelE2E. This move aims to enhance data protection awareness among end users storing personal data and assisting startups at their early stages before they transition to the more advanced solutions offered in MSP360's portfolio.

"We get a lot of IT lovers, break-fix shops, prosumers and the like, along with MSPs," Helwig said. "And they don’t want to go with someone big, at least at first, but they still want to know their stuff is secure. This is our way of being there – we’re there for the beginning when MSPs start until they get all the way up to 10 thousand endpoints. We will continue to give back to the community as they grow and we grow with them," Helwig said.

MSP360 has increased the storage limits for several public cloud providers available in its free backup solution, including Wasabi, Backblaze B2, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Storage, Helwig said. For customers using Amazon Web Services (AWS), however, the storage limits are still 5TB and local backup limits remain unchanged. MSP360 Free Backup offers the basics, including file-based backup and object lock. MSP360 Free Backup is provided on a per-computer basis with an annual subscription.

More advanced solutions in MSP360’s portfolio support options such as image-based backup, MS SQL and Exchange Backup, Hyper-V/VMware Backup, the company said, but for many customers, the Free Backup option is sufficient as they grow. And that's just how MSP360 wants it.

Read the complete story here.