Apple MDM, Liongard’s Leo AI Assistant, Apptega Growth Investment

A. Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

Are you an MSP that partners with public cloud service providers? It's time for you to step up and get recognized. ChannelE2E opened its annual Top 250 Public Cloud MSPs survey. This is the survey that we use to create our annual Top 250 Public Cloud MSPs ranked list. Here's the link to participate.

We're also looking at Mosyle's Apple MDM solution for MSPs and MSSPs, Liongard's AI virtual assistant, Leo, and new leadership at managed services provider NexusTek. In funding news, Apptega gets a $15 million shot in the arm to continue development of its continuous security and compliance platform, which is among few purpose-built for service providers, such as MSSPs and MDR companies. The investment comes from Mainsail Partners and is made up of third-party debt and growth equity.

Finally, our own Jessica Davis is at Kaseya Connect this week, and we'll be bringing you news and updates from the conference -- including Kaseya's plans for AI and automation and MSPs' move to the front lines of cybersecurity -- but we're still waiting with bated breath to find out what their 'surprise announcement' will be. Stay tuned!

Please check out our industry Mergers and Acquisitions list, updated daily, with an archive that goes all the way back to 2020. Check out the whole thing here. Scroll down for a quick view of upcoming in-person channel and MSP events at the bottom of this post (while we spiff up our industry calendar behind the scenes. It will return!)

And please send your news tips, information, and industry chatter to senior managing editor [email protected].

1. Time for Cloud MSPs to get recognized - Are you an MSP that works with public cloud providers? It’s time to get recognized for your work. ChannelE2E opened its annual survey for the Top 250 Public Cloud MSPs. If your MSP practice includes working with a public cloud provider, this survey is for you. Participation is free. The survey closes in June. Submit your MSP today here for recognition! Our list will be released this summer.

2. Apple Mobile Device Management for MSPs: Mosyle introduced an Apple MDM solution purpose-built for MSPs, according to MSP Today, built on its enterprise-grade Mosyle Fuse solution. It's called Mosyle Fuse MSP and integrates mobile device management, endpoint security, internet security, identity management and application management into a single, Apple-centric platform. MSPs can create and apply standardized profiles and policies across all customer accounts, including device management, security protocols, online privacy settings and application control. There are pre-configured settings, but for situations that require unique configurations, MSPs can manage individual customer settings like Apple Push Certificates, identity provider integrations and specific profiles. Automated monthly billing and detailed customer reports simplify the billing process for MSPs and their clients.

3. Liongard Adds AI-Powered Leo Virtual Assistant: Liongard, which offers solutions to automate and simplify attack surface management, has launched Leo, its AI-powered virtual assistant. Leo is a chatbot that answers to frequently asked questions across all of Liongard's platforms, including share.liongard.com (a central hub for key metrics), the company's comprehensive documentation website and the main Liongard website at liongard.com, as MSP Today reported. Leo is available to all Liongard partners direct or through Pax8.

4. Apptega Raises $15M for Continuous Compliance Solution: To further development of its continuous security and compliance platform for MSPs and MSSPs, Apptega recieved a $15 million growth investment comprised of third-party debt and growth equity from Mainsail Partners, a growth equity firm that invests in fast-growing software companies. The investment will go toward development of its continuous security and compliance platform, which is among few purpose-built for service providers, such as MSSPs and MDR companies. The company’s solution enables these service providers to provide real-time security and compliance scoring to clients in a way that satisfies industry and regulatory requirements. Increasingly, Apptega’s R&D efforts point toward productizing artificial intelligence so that managed service firms can deliver security and compliance guidance more efficiently and at higher margins.

5. New Leadership at NexusTek: After five years, NexusTek CEO Bill Wosilius is stepping down, and Hamilton Yu will take his place. Yu has more than 28 years experience in tech; his career began at Accenture, and he later served as an executive overseeing the enterprise voice AI customer care platform at Nuance Communications. His most recent role was as CEO of Taos, an IBM company. And Bobby Christian has been appointed executive chairman of the NexusTek board of directors, the company said. Christian currently serves as the chief commercial officer at Deepwatch, a leading managed security platform.

B. In-Person MSP and Channel Partner Events