Mergers and Acquisitions, Mergers and Acquisitions, IT management, MSP, Content

N-able Acquires Microsoft 365, Azure Cloud Automation Software Provider Spinpanel

Clouds – hi-tech background

N-able has acquired Spinpanel, a Microsoft 365 and Azure cloud management and automation platform for MSPs. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This is technology M&A deal numbers 597 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2022. See more than 1,000 technology M&A deals involving MSPs, MSSPs & IT service providers listed here.

The Spinpanel deal arrives at a key time for N-able and the MSP market. In addition to reselling Microsoft 365, MSPs have been striving to wrap more managed services around the SaaS platform as well as Azure infrastructure services. Moreover, MSPs may need more automation capabilities to more effectively navigate the new Microsoft Cloud Partner Program.

N-able Acquires Spinpanel: Potential Microsoft Cloud Management Benefits for MSPs

Spinpanel may allow MSPs to address those challenges and opportunities. Indeed, the company's multi-tenant software allows MSPs to manage Microsoft licensing, billing, data and more. Dig a little deeper, and Spinpanel can automate the provisioning, security, and management of Microsoft 365 and Azure tenants, users, and licenses, the buyer said. Spinpanel's technology is expected to surface in the N-able product portfolio during Q3 of 2022, N-able indicated.

Spinpanel is a familiar name to MSP industry insiders. Some N-able partners already run the software, and Spinpanel also gained some attention from Autotask and Synnex partners starting around 2017.

Spinpanel, founded 2015, is based on Rosmalen, North Brabant, the Netherlands. The company has 16 employees listed on LinkedIn. Spinpanel also has M&A experience, having merged with Nubo Service Automation in 2019.

N-able Buys Spinpanel: Executive Perspectives

John Pagliuca, CEO, N-able
John Pagliuca, CEO, N-able

In a prepared statement about the acquisition, N-able CEO John Pagliuca said:

“The ‘cloud’ is no longer a talk track in presentations; it’s an adoption speedway for IT professionals. However, while the cloud presents an enormous opportunity, it also adds to the increasing complexity of IT environments, and that coupled with labor shortages can undermine its full potential. We believe the addition of Spinpanel to our team will help our partners optimize the value of their Microsoft Cloud products and, in turn, give Spinpanel customers access to a wider array of IT management and security solutions. We are excited to welcome Spinpanel to the N-able family.”

Added Bendert Post, CEO of Spinpanel:

“We are thrilled to be joining the N-able team so we can extend the vision we’ve had for our Microsoft Cloud enablement technology and get it into the hands of an even greater pool of CSPs and IT professionals. There is no reason why the cloud should be out of reach, including Microsoft Cloud which dominates most of the IT world. It’s really a matter of having the ability to harness its full capabilities while centralizing the ability to manage it. We’re making that vision a reality and we know our customers will also appreciate the wider breadth and depth we will bring as N-able, together.”

The deal arrives roughly one year after SolarWinds spun off N-able as a publicly held, standalone business.

Additional Microsoft 365 and Azure Cloud Management Tools

In some ways, Spinpanel completes with such Microsoft CSP automation and license management tools as CSP Control Center, Interworks.cloud, TotalOne, Work 365, and Zomentum Connect. Moreover traditional distributors (Ingram Micro, TD Synnex) and cloud distributors (names like Pax8 and Sherweb, among others) have tools that simplify Microsoft 365 consumption and management in various ways.

ConnectWise CloudConsole, launched in 2017, also attempted to solve various Microsoft 365 and Azure management challenges. Some of that functionality ultimately tucked into the ConnectWise Manage platform, ChannelE2E believes.

Joe Panettieri

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.