Charles Weaver's blog

I'm getting a briefing from Wanova.com on their desktop virutalization technology. What's pretty cool is the obvious utility this technology has to the MSP community. It's not just playing a backup role for MSPs and their clients, but it also can standardize the client dekstop environment to allow for quick redployment if something should happen to the device.

Yet another managed services acquisition this week as PC Mall announced it was acquiring the assets of MSP Network Services Plus, Inc., a company that provided managed services and hosting. What makes this deal unique is the size of the buyer. PC Mall is not only large but is a publically traded company looking to augment its managed services capabilities. 

In doing today’s broadcast at MSPtv we had a lot of great questions from the audience and I got the feeling that we didn’t get to all of them. So, for those that had lingering questions about raising funding, buying, selling, or merging, I thought I’d post the slide material so you can download it.

In what has already been an increasingly active M&A market this year, Savvis just this week announced its intention to buy FusePoint for a reported $124 million. While both MSPAlliance members were focused in the managed hosting vertical it does continue to add fuel to the argument that M&A in the overall managed services industry is still heating up.

Michelle Nelson, one of the owners of Anexio, an MSAP audited MSP, testifies before Congress on the effects of the economy on small businesses. This is a great video on how managed IT is helping small businesses everywhere. 

Great job Michelle! 

Think the M&A market is only about consolidation (I know, Charles doesn't believe in MSP consolidation) of MSPs? Think again. I've been having a lot of discussions lately with non-MSP organizations, including private equity firms, who are actively engaged in seeking out MSP firms.

I was going through old email the other day and found something from Dan Wilson (Waypoint Solutions Group). Dan serves on our Vendor Relations committee and had recently held a session at MSPWorld on what MSPs really want from their vendors. I thought I’d pass it along because there is some great stuff here.

I had a great call yesterday with a rather large MSP member and they reported having decent success in fending off the state level tax audits. This is great news for the MSP community at large since all of this started at the beginning of the year.

SmartShare Systems joins vendor-neutral program for benchmarking service-enabling technology vendors worldwide