Pax8-Acronis Security Bundle An ‘Enticing Offer,’ Partner Says

‘When you can put it under a single portal, and you can manage it in a multi-tenant way, now you are really starting to appeal to the simplification value prop that MSPs want,’ says Ryan Walsh, chief channel officer at Pax8.

Born-in-the-cloud distributor Pax8 is now offering an integrated Acronis bundle that allows MSPs to “kick the tires” before committing, which Pax8 Channel Chief Ryan Walsh said highlighting the importance of vendors being “great channel citizens” in the current environment.

“If a channel partner is going to put their reputation on a product, they need to test it first, they need to kick the tires first,” he said. “Acronis is making it really easy for partners to get exposed to their products. These guys have really been listening. When you are a good channel citizen, you realize you have an obligation during these times to row together. They’re doing that. They’re trying to help partners acquire new customers, so they’re giving them the ability to extend a trial so they can get a customer ... I find that’s being a great channel citizen.”

Pax8 partner Zac Paulson, CEO of True IT, an MSP in West Fargo, N.D., called the Acronis addition an “enticing offer.”

“I’m always excited when Pax8 picks up new line cards because it makes the suite of products available so much better,” he said. “The most unique part to me is that they really seem to cover the gamut, where a suite of other products require multiple products, this seems to be -- backup, file sync and share, DR. It seems to do what four other products do for us, so where we four solutions to market. It seems like you can come to market with one product. One suite.”

Walsh said just offering a security product is not good enough for many MSPs since so many have end customers with varying security needs. Walsh said the Acronis’ product is comprehensive security and back up solution that saves MSPs time and money, with back-up alerts, and other features roped together.

“It’s really important for us to be selective, because we’re looking for what makes a product unique,” Walsh said. “If you’ve now added patch management in with anti-malware detection, the ransomware detection, you really do have a real robust solution. We just haven’t seen anyone take that step in the way these guys did … When you can put it under a single portal, and you can manage it in a multi-tenant way, now you are really starting to appeal to the simplification value prop that MSPs want. Take some noise out of their day. Take some headache out of their day. That’s really what stood out here.”

He said the package may not be right for MSPs of all sizes, but for shops with only a few employees, and those just starting out, this is a good fit.

“If you are just getting into the game or you are on the smaller end of things, something like this in a single solution can really be a stand-on its own solution for you,” he said. “It gives you choice. We’re all about that.”