Managed Service Provider Week in Review

This week Mike Chase, co-founder and CTO of dinCloud, wrote about how the cloud is killing the enterprise. This may seem like a scary prospect, but it’s actually excellent news for MSPs and cloud service providers like dinCloud.

Chase outlined the technology benefits and massive cost savings enterprises can achieve by using cloud services versus trying to run their own private clouds. The choice is very clear, and the cloud presents a massive opportunity for MSPs looking to quickly and cost effectively expand their service offerings.

In other managed services news, Elastica came out of stealth mode this week with the announcement of $6.3 million in Series A funding and a brand new solution. The company, which specializes in cloud application security, rolled out its CloudSOC solution to secure cloud apps and services for companies and employees.

Speaking of security, a new managed services agreement was announced between NTT Com Security and Palo Alto Networks. NTT, already a Palo Alto partner, will now provide managed security services along with implementation and integration for Palo Alto’s security platform. The Palo Alto offering is designed to protect a variety of networks from cyber threats and is based on the dynamic computing environments inherent in cloud and mobile deployments.

Rapidly expanding MSP CenturyLink has solidified a new hybrid cloud partnership with consumer packaged goods giant The Procter & Gamble Company. The service provider will deliver outsourced IT infrastructure services to the company through the agreement, as Procter & Gamble seeks to update the way it internally procures and consumes IT services. The deal hinges on the popular consumption-based pricing model, which will help P&G become more agile and cost efficient in its general corporate IT strategy.