As small businesses move servers into third-party data centers, the transition provides both an opportunity and challenge for MSPs. Indeed, those IT service providers need visibility into those data centers, especially when it comes to monitoring for power, cooling and more.
Eager to address those challenges, Schneider Electric (parent of APC) has unveiled EcoStruxure IT for Partners, a cloud-based, multi-tenant platform developed for IT solution providers focused on data center and distributed IT sites.
In some ways, it sounds like RMM (remote monitoring and management) software that thousands of MSPs already leverage to maintain customer PCs and servers. But in other ways, EcoStructure IT for Partners offers some new capabilities for MSPs and partners to consider.
The company claims the new platform will provide partners with a monitoring solution for vendor-neutral, secure visibility across multiple customer sites. This will allow MSPs to add power and cooling monitoring into service and maintenance contracts, or they can simply resell this software as a service to customers.
First Offering: EcoStructure IT Expert
First to be released under the EcoStruxure platform is EcoStruxure IT Expert. Through this cloud-based monitoring system, partners can manage alarms, maintain uptime, and check the status of physical infrastructure equipment whether onsite or remote, the company asserts.
Some key design goals for EcoStruxure IT Expert include:
- Easy to register, download and implement, the company claims.
- Benchmark against the total population to see how well your managed assets perform compared to others.
- Analytics to avoid alarm storms, understand the root cause of an alarm to better predict and avoid a repeat of the issue.
- Pay as you go subscription model with predictable monthly costs.
- Vendor agnostic to support third-party vendors and networked assets.
- Assessments with recommendations on where to focus your attention.
The company also recently announced a new UPS product, the APC Channel Partner Program provides online training, certifications, opportunity registration, lead generation, promotions, sales and marketing tools, a Rewards Program — plus a 24/7, toll-free number to help solve customers' power and cooling challenges.
As a push to kick off the new platform, MSPs in the U.S. and Canada can sign up for a free 30-day trial of EcoStruxure IT for Partners, but only for a limited time.
Additional insights from Joe Panettieri.
