In The Media

Michael Dell is a man on a mission, striving to transform Dell for the new age of converged data centers, cloud computing and mobility. And yes, he is placing a huge bet on Windows 8. During an exclusive interview with The VAR Guy, Dell outlined the path forward for his company – and the opportunities ahead for PartnerDirect channel partners. Yes, Dell has an $8 billion services business. But that’s just 1 percent of the IT services market, Dell asserts, leaving plenty of opportunity for partners to cash in. Here’s how.

A small businesses’ worst nightmare is probably unforeseen and seemingly unpreventable website downtime caused by an internal glitch. GoDaddy.comclients, who use the domain provider to host their websites, found themselves in the dark for an entire afternoon due to “a series of internal network events that corrupted router data tables.” As an indispensable part of some SMB’s business processes, many faced downtime that caused loss in revenue and a halt in sales leads.

By Joseph Walker
MSPmentor mentioned earlier today that "Quest’s PacketTrapteam appears to be heads-down on a cloud version of PacketTrap MSP, a remote monitoring and management (RMM) software platform." We can confirm that PacketTrap is indeed headed toward a launch of an SaaS edition of PacketTrap MSP.

I spoke recently with Mike Byrne (pictured right), Director of MSP at Quest, and he said Quest has a non-firm Q4 target release date for their new SaaS PacketTrap MSP software—which combines the company remote monitoring and management (RMM) software and their professional service automation (PSA) product. For anyone not familiar with PacketTrap MSP, I suggest you take a look at it here. It's a great network monitoring and management product at a reasonable price.

By Joe Panettieri
Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) expects to complete the Quest Software (NASDAQ: QSFT) buyout in Q3 2012. In the meantime, Quest has announced Q2 results, expanded support for NetApp storage, and is pushing deeper into the managed services software market. Indeed, Quest’s PacketTrapteam appears to be heads-down on a cloud version of PacketTrap MSP, a remote monitoring and management (RMM) software platform.

PacketTrap MSP already runs on-premises. The cloud version will deliver closer ties with PacketTrap PSA, a professional services automation (PSA) platform that Quest acquired last year. Together, PacketTrap hopes the cloud-based PSA and MSP solutions deliver end-to-end monitoring and business management services for MSPs.

by Joe Panettieri
Insight Venture Partners and a surprise partner now lead the bidding war for Quest Software (NASDAQ: QSFT). But published reports Tuesday evening suggest Dellcould still mount another counter-bid for Quest, which develops desktop virtualization, IT administration and managed services software.

By Joe Panettieri
While parent Quest Software considers its future ownership options, business unit PacketTrapcontinues to gain momentum in the managed services software market. Plus, PacketTrap is preparing a complete, cloud-based, end-to-end managed services platform, according to Mike Byrne, director of MSP at Quest Software.

By The Var Guy
If Dell buys Quest Software, it could thrust Dell into the virtualization market head-on against VMware (NYSE: VMW), Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization(NYSE: RHT), among other potential rivals. But is Dell really trying to get into the virtualization market?

By Joe Panettieri,
Is Dell targeting Quest Software, owner of PacketTrap MSP and PacketTrap PSA, for a potential buyout? A potential Dell-Quest Software deal remained in negotiations over the holiday weekend, sources told Reuters. If Dell acquires Quest Software, what does that mean for the PacketTrap MSP and PacketTrap PSA software platforms? Here are some thoughts for managed services providers (MSPs).

By Larry Walsh
Dell has a strange relationship with the managed services market. Since buying SilverBack Technologies and Everdream, Dell has indelicately plied the managed services market with direct offerings while supporting managed service providers with remote monitoring and management tools. To say MSPs have been skeptical and dubious of Dell’s program would be an understatement.