Quest Software Buys BlueFolder, Adding PSA Capability to MSP Portfolio

Quest Software, which delved into the managed service provider market a little over two years ago with the acquisition of PacketTrap Networks, is bolstering that MSP portfolio.

The Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based software company on Thursday announced it acquired BlueFolder Inc., which makes a professional services automation (PSA) system. Between the remote monitoring and management (RMM) functionality of PacketTrap MSP and the PSA capability of BlueFolder, Quest now owns an end-to-end MSP package, company officials say. Terms of the BlueFolder deal weren't disclosed.

In an interview from BlueFolder's offices in Colorado Springs on Thursday, Mike Byrne, director of the MSP Network Management Division at Quest, said the plan is for the integration between the products to be seamless. "It's going to be the tightest of all," Byrne said of the integration between PacketTrap MSP and BlueFolder, which will be renamed PacketTrap PSA.

"Having both tools in a single interface, the MSP technicians won't have to jump into the RMM and then the PSA. They can pick and choose what they want to see in the dashboard. From an end user point of view, it's also a seamless application, where they can get to dashboards or create a ticket instead of going to multiple portals," Byrne said.

Quest's first release of BlueFolder will come toward the end of the first quarter under the PacketTrap PSA brand. It's not clear yet how much integration Quest can build into the two halves of the PacketTrap family by that point.

"We're working on a few kinks. We're doing our best," said Matt Bolton, divisional vice president for product management in the Network Management Division at Quest Software.

No matter how tight the integration at the end of March, Quest Software will continue to work on integrating the products throughout the year, Bolton said.

In the meantime, Quest remains committed to ensuring that standalone versions of the PacketTrap products integrate tightly with other PSA solutions and other RMM solutions on the market.

"We have deep partnerships with those guys," Bolton said and added that future releases would further improve the support for other PSA and RMM solutions at the same time as deeper integrations are being built between the PacketTrap products.

Quest Software's deepening commitment to the MSP market occurs as the company is in the midst of unifying its partner program in an effort to increase channel sales.

Posted by Scott Bekker on February 16, 2012