LPI Brings Managed Services Home (With The Help Of Some Friends)

About a year ago, as the head of channel strategy for Linux software developer Net Integration, Markham, Ontario, Wensley exploited what he felt was a weakness in Microsoft's Small Business Server strategy and aggressively recruited solution providers to attack the software giant in the small and midsize market. Today, as vice president of partner development at managed service platform vendor LPI Level Platforms, Ottawa, he is leveraging that experience to bring managed services to some of the smallest IT networks around, including the home, and is looking to digital integrators to do so.

A funny thing happened on the way to LPI Level Platforms becoming the low-price leader among MSPs, Wensley explains. When the company recently introduced ultralow pricing for its flagship Managed Workplace product, the barrier of entry into the MSP also was lowered to a point comfortable enough for integrators targeting the home and small-office environments to invest in the technology and profit from managed services, he says.

"One of the barriers [for MSPs] to the home and SOHO market has been scalability. Prices have to be low, and often the cost of a computer repair or upgrade in the home is too low to justify rolling a truck out," he says. "But with version 5.0 and the low price, all the things you can now do remotely make the home and SOHO market more penetrable."

LPI's Managed Workplace 5.0 delivers a comprehensive set of MSP tools that start as low as $15 per user seat for networks comprised of fewer than 10 devices. These new low prices spell real margins for integrators, and programs from LPI Level Platforms to assist these integrators are in the works, Wensley says.

Managed Workplace 5.0 gives integrators the ability to perform remote, browser-based SNMP monitoring of any Windows server or Windows XP workstation, as well as administer systems based on Macintosh OS X, Linux, Unix or Windows 98. No VPN, third-party Web site or embedded system agent is required.

Managed Workplace 5.0 adds remote patch management tools for all Windows devices, as well as policy-based system alerts that can be customized via a scripting feature. Version 5.0 also includes Web site monitoring, which can be used to track the uptime of a customer's Internet presence, VoIP management, network asset reporting and a trouble-ticketing system.

The decision to provide managed services to customers who typically have no more than a single PC puts an integrator at a crossroads, says Roger Barker, president of Conexis, a full-service solution provider in Aliso Viejo, Calif. You can either pay tens of thousands of dollars to invest in an MSP platform and make your money back slowly by charging $10 to $20 per month, per customer, or find a way to spend less money for a platform and keep your books a little more balanced, he says.

For example, Barker spent $70,000 on an MSP platform from N-able Technologies, Ottawa, which he uses for SMB customers and a few home office customers. He still uses N-able but has added LPI Level Platforms' product to help expand Conexis' offerings into the home and SOHO markets.

"We've been doing home audio and video installations for a while, and we've also been tying people's home office back to the main office for some time now," Barker says. "But Level Platforms brings in that final piece of the puzzle. It brings to home and SOHO customers a level of service we have been offering to our business customer data networks."

The price tag of Managed Workplace 5.0 is so low, Barker says, that Conexis has begun installing it in home and SOHO networks even if the customer decides initially not to pay for MSP services. With these customers, Barker's ability to proactively maintain a customer's network saves the company money by reducing service calls.

It is common for rival vendors to point to LPI Level Platforms' low pricing as a reason not to take its platform seriously, nor is it immune to criticism from some of its own MSP partners. Doug Barratt, system engineer at Data America, an integrator in Oldsmar, Fla., who's seen several upgrades of the LPI product over the past two years, says the product has always had issues, such as lapses in reporting data from remote customer sites. But corrections have always been made, and his company is not considering dropping LPI Level Platforms, he says, adding that it has enabled him to evaluate new ways of offering managed services for small businesses.

The first instinct for many integrators considering an MSP platform for small markets is to look for a low price, says Barry Monies, president and CEO of Computronix, an MSP in Stamford, Conn. But it's important to understand that the economics of cost of goods vs. cost of service do not always fall the same way in small markets, he says.

For example, a single customer with one workstation and a broadband connection in a home office could be running a $2 billion hedge fund, Monies says. Such customers are common near Computronix's headquarters. Since the work they do in their home offices is mission-critical, these prospects may be willing to pay a higher premium for managed services. Monies bought an MSP platform by vendor Kaseya, San Francisco, and paid in the range of $75,000 for a thousand-seat license. By using that infrastructure to offer services to businesses ranging from very small to very large, Monies recouped his investment in about six months.

Just how LPI Level Platforms plans to roll out its programs for home and SOHO integrators is still a closely guarded secret. The home integrator space is somewhat fractured, posing a challenge for vendors seeking to develop effective programs. Still, Wensley says LPI's aggressive pricing was a step he needed to take before he could develop a partner program that will successfully lure home integrators into the MSP business.

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