CHICO, CA, September 24, 2007 - The MSPAlliance (The International Association of Managed Service Providers) today announced its collaboration with Intel Corporation to form a new community of MSPs and vendors surrounding the Alliance’s Managed Services Accreditation Program (MSAP). The initiative, which will begin in 2008, will focus on the widespread adoption of the MSAP exam and Intel® vPro™ processor technology.
The collaboration between Intel and the MSPAlliance will bring together accredited MSPs and vendors for the sole purpose of offering high quality managed services and products to end-user consumers throughout the world. The MSAP, introduced in 2005, is the first program of its kind, specifically created for the managed services industry, and designed to provide managed services customers with an assurance that the MSP they hire meets the highest principles of quality. Companies that receive MSAP accreditation meet or exceed MSPA standards in areas such as financial stability, facilities, managed services practices, and customer satisfaction.
By combining the MSAP exam, MSPs using Intel vPro technology, and other accredited vendors into one initiative, end-user consumers throughout the world will be assured that their IT infrastructure is in safe hands, with maximum uptime.
“Intel is in a unique position because its vPro technology works with virtually all the major MSP platforms,” said Charles Weaver, president of MSP Alliance. “The MSPAlliance is very pleased to work with Intel on such an important mission.”
Designed for business users, Intel® vPro™ and Centrino Pro™ processor technology introduce a layer of hardware-based manageability that protects access to clients that are powered down. This allows MSPs to assure that SW updates and anti-virus definitions are kept up to date and clients are backed-up off-hours; without interrupting their customers during working hours. These platforms are also the industry’s first solution that enables OS-absent manageability in 802.1x and Cisco NAC networks.
“Intel recognizes the Managed Service Provider (MSP) community as a great resource to small business to bring IT capabilities that previously only large companies could afford”, said Gregory Bryant, VP of the Digital Enterprise Group, Intel Corporation. “We look forward to reaching out to MSPs through industry associations like MSPA to demonstrate how to lower costs of daily operations and raise the level of service for their customers by deploying systems based on Intel® vPro™ and Centrino Pro™ processor technology.”
During 2008, Intel and the MSPAlliance will embark on a worldwide tour to educate MSPs about Intel vPro technology and the benefits of becoming an accredited MSP. The relationship will also focus on educating small and medium-size businesses on the benefits of using accredited managed service providers to help mitigate the risk of corporate identity theft and fraud by improving IT management practices throughout the small and medium-sized business community. “With the proliferation of MSPs around the world, choosing accredited MSPs to handle corporate IT management and security has never been more important,” Weaver stated.
About MSP Alliance
The MSP Alliance is a global organization made up of more than 2000 managed service providers and service enabling technology vendors, who work in a collaborative effort to define, promote and educate the Managed Services Industry and the end-user consumer on the adoption and successful use of technology through Managed Services. The MSPAlliance is committed to increasing reliability and dependability in the industry surrounding the value and benefit of using Managed Service Providers to provide a wide range of mission-critical services. In addition, the MSPAlliance collects data on the practice of managed services on behalf of its members, to help them increase the value delivery of IT to the organizations they serve. For more information about the MSPAlliance please visit www.mspalliance.com/.
