independenceIT is just one company, but it keeps this MSP Today reporter plenty busy. Already this year it introduced partnerships, a training program called independenceIT University, and a new version of its desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) tool. More recently it revamped its executive suite and just the other week gained equity funding from the former CFO of Terramark Jose Segrera.
In addition to Segrera, the company is now welcoming former Terramark and SoftLayer chief marketing officer as an advisor. Meanwhile Segrera serves on the independenceIT board.
The company hopes all these moves will help it stand out in an increasingly large DaaS market, one made even bigger with the entry of Amazon just this month.
Revamped Team:
This summer iIT recast its leadership team, making Jim Lippie CEO, and Seth Bostock president. Lippie leaped from executive VP of business development and Bostock rose from executive VP of corporate development. Lippie has some serious MSP chops, having been CEO of Thrive Networks, a service provider he helped sell to Staples.
The iIT DaaS tool is Cloud Workspace. This month mazon announced its own DaaS service WorkSpaces. The service and name were so similar, this writer openly wondered if Amazon was rebranding tech from iIT.
Bostock cleared up the confusion. “iIT is not behind the Amazon DaaS solution. Providers like Amazon and VMware are waking up to the power and potential of desktop-as-a-service. iIT, as pioneers of the workspace concept, our own Cloud Workspace solution provides more than simply a desktop in the cloud - the DaaS revolution is really about empowering employee mobility and productivity in the BYOD era while ensuring data security and adherence to compliance requirements. It’s about providing a better desktop experience than the traditional local solution, not merely a remote one.”
Revamped Product:
After more than ten years delivering Desktop as a Service (DaaS), independenceIT recently launched a new version of its Cloud Workspace, a virtual suite that supports Microsoft Office and Exchange and lets service providers and clients get at e-mail, applications and files over a private MPLS network or the Internet.
Many of the enhancements surround deployment. The company claims the tool can be up and running and delivering virtual desktops in mere minutes. The new suite is essentially hypervisor agnostic, working equally well with tools from Microsoft, VMware and Citrix. It works automatically with an array of partner tools, particularly remote monitoring and management (RMM).
Cloud Workspace supports a wider variety of applications. In fact, the vendor claims that more than 400 programs are already pre-virtualized. Once the customer proves they have a valid software license, these apps can be quickly deployed via the suite.
Partnership Update:
Vendors that serve the MSP community have been on a partner roll, and iIT is a case in point. The company has deepened its partnership with tight integration between ConnectWise service management. As a result, MSPs can sell a fully integrated service management/virtual desktop solution.
In similar partner news, iIT struck a deal with Artisan Infrastructure to blend that company’s IaaS with the iIT virtual desktop. Under the deal MSPs can white label both the iIT Suite virtual desktop and Artisan’s wholesale IaaS, and sell it all as a single offering. That is just one of many iIT deals. For instance, the latest version of iIT’s Cloud Workspace also supports N-able for RMM and service automation. Not to be left out, iIT also works with Autotask for service desk, project management, tech scheduling, billing and reporting, and customer relationship management (CRM).
Back to School:
MSPs looking for helping hand can turn to iIT University (iIT U). All iIT partners immediately become members of the new program, which is aimed at driving more revenue from the cloud.
There are three main elements to the program. On the marketing side, partners get sales and marketing materials such as case studies. These materials can be customized to suit a particular partner’s needs. For training, iIT customizes its approach for different partner types.
And finally, there is strategic consulting to “determine how cloud services fit within their current portfolio, and helps partners develop attractive cloud services offerings that create new income opportunities,” the company explained.
On the technical side, there is the Cloud Workspace Certified program. Here “iIT U assists with onboarding, provisioning, troubleshooting and other issues that may arise when empowering end users with cloud services,” the company said.
Edited by
Cassandra Tucker
