OpenDNS made two big partner moves this week, integrating its Umbrella cloud security tool with ConnectWise and nabbing MySherpa as a new MSP partner. ConnectWise all year has been forging partnerships, and this week was no exception, striking the deal with OpenDNS under which the ConnectWise professional services automation (PSA) platform can help make the deployment of security services more profitable.
“This integration with the ConnectWise professional services automation (PSA) platform enables managed service providers (MSPs) to centrally manage and deliver Umbrella web filtering and security services that reduce malware infections up to 80 percent more than anti-virus solutions,” OpenDNS said. “It allows the companies’ joint MSP partners to boost their operational efficiency and profitability by gaining visibility into security and Internet activity of individual client accounts directly from ConnectWise.”
The cloud-based Umbrella defends against an array of ills, including phishing, botnets and various and sundry forms of malware. The tool, which is device and location agnostic, is supported by a network of 19 data centers and now counts 50 million users, and claims “thousands” of MSP partners. The tool has a two-fold approach. First, it proactively identifies and blocks malicious Web sites. And it disrupts the connection between a device infected by a botnet and the system that controls that botnet.
On the MSP partner front, MySherpa trekked its way over to OpenDNS, and packed on the Umbrella service for endpoint protection. MySherpa claims the Umbrella tool has basically done away with malware problems, a mountain of a task.
“Prior to deploying Umbrella, MySherpa relied on unified threat management (UTM) appliances to deliver its managed security service. These on-premises appliances were expensive, time-consuming to manage and provided poor protection against malware. Since they don’t monitor outbound connections, malware on its customers’ networks was able to update itself and spread to other computers. This was creating significant clean-up efforts for MySherpa which increased operating costs and lowered margins,” the company said.
This is one reason security in the cloud is taking off for customers and MSPs alike. Gartner is one of many research houses tracking this area, and it says security in the cloud will almost double to from this year’s $2.13 billion to hit $4.13 billion in 2017.
MySherpa likes the simplicity and effectiveness of cloud security. “Since deploying Umbrella, there has been a remarkable decrease in the number of infections,” said Ethan Tancredi, president of MySherpa. “The very few, non-network infections have all been automatically quarantined by Umbrella’s botnet containment technology before they were able to update or spread. Plus, the time spent cleaning malware has drastically decreased. Before, we spent hours, and now on the rare occasion it happens, it’s less than an hour’s time for our staff.”
Also this year, OpenDNS snagged Technology Associates as an MSP partner. Here Umbrella for Service Providers replaced Zscaler, which Technology Associates previously used for Web filtering.
ConnectWise has also been one active vendor lately. This fall ConnectWise partnered up with VirtualTone, which sells VoIP services through MSPs. It struck a strategic partnership with LabTech Software to combine service management and remote monitoring and management (RMM) into one essential offering.
Edited by
Cassandra Tucker
