Footloose and "Facilities" Free

Next-Gen Managed Services

Andy Schroepfer, Tier 1 Research

According to the press releases, everyone offers managed hosting. For years now, hosting companies and networking companies have been battling over dominance in the Internet infrastructure services sector while assuming the importance of the network and the data center. Now we have a third contender in the market that need not own either assets and still be the premier company in the industry given a focus on the critical component - management of the infrastructure. Below are the key takeaways from our analysis.

Full Solution Best Delivered as Disaggregated eCOLOsystem.

The five components of a full service solution (development, hosting, network, management, and value-add apps) are vastly different and are best delivered from a group of specialized providers who partner with leaders. Customers should not settle for average services from an integrated provider for a single point of contact.

Business Model is Capital Efficient if Data Center Owners Cooperate.

By leveraging the Internet Data Center's network of others, capital requirements are substantially reduced, but should still show a higher ROI. The problem is that these third-party data center owners are watching their value proposition erode and are now moving into managed services, while also making it difficult for MSP's to operate. Customers should seek MSP's who partner intelligently avoiding these conflicts.

Everyone Offers Managed Services, Winners Proactively Manage Infrastructure.

There is a significant difference between those managing servers and those managing an infrastructure. Knowing what to do when the green lights turn red is difficult and the winners in this sector will have automated tools to proactively manage the infrastructure.