NOC, NOC. Who's There?

Ever heard of managed services in a box?

Well, Internet protocol shop Italtel is currently ramping up its Cisco Managed Office for managed service partners and value-added resellers in North America.
This comes after networking giant Cisco revamped its MSP program last summer to make sure MSPs could continue to connect clearly and concisely to network operation centers of peer MSPs and client IT organizations.

As networks become more flexible, the use of third-party NOC administrators will likely continue. Here are three things to consider for MSPs when thinking about a NOC partner or provider:

What is covered in the NOC service level agreement? A contract specifying what parts of a network are covered and the exact provisions of a service is the most important thing for any IT organization retaining a service vendor.

Location. Is the NOC in India or Pittsburgh? It doesn't really matter with technology being the way it is but it helps for a NOC operator to have a national and international presence to ensure that 24 hour service and support isn't just a marketing phrase but a reality?

Does the NOC follow ITIL standards? I recently spoke with Robert Stroud, the international vice president of the ISACA, which is a trade group for IT auditors and operational and security consultants. Stroud says that there is nothing like a secure and reliable NOC, especially when ensuring operational efficiency of an IT organization.

Posted by Jabulani Leffall on July 09, 20100 comments


Printing Is One Service That's Here To Stay

The "VAR guy" recently posited that managed print services would be around for a long time. It would stand to reason that many SMBs -- even in an increasingly paperless society -- would still need to print documents or do large-scale print runs or have printers available.

Yet, only about 29 percent of MSPmentor 100 survey participants reported that they offered their customers managed print services. This conclusion comes from data gathered in Q4 2009.

The atmosphere is such that hardware makers such as HP are folding managed print service offerings into printer warranties. But this is also something that hardware and mail and print server resellers can consider. Just one more thing to offer.

Posted by Jabulani Leffall on July 08, 20101 comments