ConnectWise has confirmed plans for IT Nation Europe 2017 -- a version of the company's partner summit built specifically for European IT service providers, MSPs and technology companies. ConnectWise also continues to operate its flagship IT Nation global summit -- with confirmed dates for 2016, 2017 and 2018 already in place.Numerous MSP-centric software companies host conferences in Europe. For its part, ConnectWise has user groups in Europe but has been mulling a tentpole event there for at least a year. During IT Nation 2015 in Orlando, chatter about the potential European event began to emerge.David BelliniConnectWise Co-Founder David Bellini shifted to an international role in mid-2015 and moved to London. On the one hand, ConnectWise was the first major MSP software provider to put PSA, RMM and other IT management tools under one roof. But on the other hand, the company's international push arrived a bit later than some rivals. Autotask, for instance, began a major international push in 2011.
Still, ConnectWise has been gaining momentum on the international front. In the United Kingdom for 2015, LabTech purchases grew more than 50 percent year over year, while combined purchases of additional add-on products within the ConnectWise Business Suite increased by over 60 percent, though actual dollar figures were not disclosed, ConnectWise said earlier this year.
Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.
MSP M&As have slowed down the past couple years as the best MSPs have already been purchased. To goose the pipeline, new MSP-specific M&A events have hit the market. Here are some of them.