Footloose and "Facilities" Free
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Next-Gen Managed Services
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Andy Schroepfer, Tier 1 Research
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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.
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Full Solution Best Delivered as Disaggregated eCOLOsystem.
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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.
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Business Model is Capital Efficient if Data Center Owners Cooperate.
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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.
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Everyone Offers Managed Services, Winners Proactively Manage Infrastructure.
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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.
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