Artisan Infrastructure Acquires Secure WaaS Platform Developer, Rebrands as Neverfail

Channel-facing cloud infrastructure vendor Neverfail has acquired Vertiscale, developer of a secure Workspace-as-a-Service (WaaS) remote access platform, in a move to build out its cloud-based services portfolio for its MSP clients.

The acquisition is a good fit for both companies, according to Chris Wiser, Neverfail’s MSP channel chief, because Vertiscale’s WaaS offering is almost tailor-made for Neverfail’s focus on cloud management, security and continuity systems.

’The cloud marketplace is in a race to zero,’ Wiser said, referring to declining cloud service prices. ’We realized we needed to do something to supplement our cloud offering as a boutique provider.’

[Related: Wheelhouse IT Dives Deeper Into Health Care, Buys Untangled Solutions]

Wiser said that many of Neverfail’s traditional market differentiators, including affordable pricing and U.S.-based support, appeal to MSPs. But he added, ’If Amazon is going to give [cloud] away for free, people are going to go that way.’

So the Austin, Tex.-based company decided to expand its Software-as-a-Service business model. ’That is where the market is moving,’ Wiser said.

Vertiscale’s offering, he said, is an acquisition that fits with that SaaS model and, to Neverfail, felt like ’a natural fit,’ with the business.

The acquisition, which closed about three weeks ago but was just disclosed this week, brings together two companies that a number of MSPs were already working with in combination, according to Jon Senger, Vertiscale's co-founder and CTO.

He said Neverfail initially made its name among MSPs with its extremely fast and affordable hosted workspace services and many of the company’s clients were also utilizing Vertiscale’s secure WaaS platform along with it prior to the acquisition.

’Now, it is a one-stop shop. A service provider can get a whole solution end to end. … The marriage really made a lot of sense,’ he said.

Chris Johnson, co-founder of MSP Untangled Solutions, which was recently acquired by Wheelhouse IT, said his company had been leveraging both Vertiscale and Neverfail products long before they came together.

He said Neverfail’s cloud offerings and Vertiscale’s WaaS platform fits well with his company's target market servicing smaller medical businesses.

’These solutions may not be revolutionary technology, but they fit in the space well, and allow an MSP of our size to not have to employ a bunch of engineers to scale up and down,’ he said.

The biggest problem that Neverfail solves for MSPs, he said, is that it alleviates the dependency they have on larger cloud providers that charge a premium for their services and require MSPs to be locked into lengthy contracts.

’The biggest challenge is having to rely on the Dells of the world,’ he said, noting that with the increased amount of consolidation in the healthcare market, his clients might not be around before a long contract ends – leaving him ’holding the bag.’

With the Neverfail solution, however, Johnson said he only pays for what he uses, and with the addition of other tools like Vertiscale’s platform, he said he can do even more as a small shop.

’I don’t have to build out my own NOC (network operations center), and I don’t have to be a 20-person company. I can do it with only four or five guys,’ he said.

It is an exciting acquisition for Untangled Solutions, Johnson said, because he no longer has to tinker with the solutions to make them work together seamlessly. ’Now it is a joint effort. … It is good to have it all under one roof,’ he said.

For Vertiscale, Senger said the acquisition has already made a big difference.

’We have been here for about three weeks and immediately it just took off,’ he said, adding that Vertiscale has seen a 300-percent sales acceleration of customers subscribing to its service. ’We have a lot of happy customers that I am happy to accelerate,’ Senger said.

The announcement of the acquisition was done in tandem with Neverfail’s rebranding from the company’s old moniker, Artisan Infrastructure.

Artisan, according to the company’s channel chief Chris Wiser, came about because the company focused on providing boutique cloud products for its MSP clients and wanted to emphasize the time and quality put into developing its services.

Now, while the company still focuses on providing quality solutions, Wiser said company executives decided a change was needed for practical reasons. He said Artisan Infrastructure is a pain to spell and makes for a long web address. So company executives decided to re-brand the company with the name of a business continuity software developer Artisan bought in April of 2015.

But Wiser emphasized that nothing else about the company will be different.

’Effective August 1, nothing changes, except for the primary web address and our name,’ he said.