CompTIA Blog

With a flurry of activities underway and planned for 2010, the Managed IT Services Executive Forum convened for a conference call to reconcile all the undertakings. The discussion included the latest updates on the MSP Partners program and a multitude of new resources being developed for the managed services community. As many of you know, CompTIA acquired MSP Partners late last year and brought the program under the fold of this managed services community.   Jim Hamilton, Senior Dir ...

Many SMB companies experience enterprise issues, they just have smaller budgets and fewer employees than their larger brethren. Smaller solution providers experience similar challenges, but also may need resources or guidance to create a valued and long-term business. Based on those requests from the IT provider community, CompTIA launched a new group to develop and make those resources available to members: the Small Business Owners Special Interest Group. The group is off to a great start, jus ...

Unless you are skier Bode Miller, who can apparently win the trifecta of Olympic medals with relatively little preparation, success requires hard work and lots of training. CompTIA’s recent study Government IT Buying Plans confirms that government IT professionals recognize the need for on-going training as an important step in ensuring success on the job.According to the survey of over 500 government IT decision makers, approximately 3 in 4 expect to invest in IT training in 2010. The data reve ...

Google announced plans to “build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States.”  The gigabit fiber broadband service is expected to be available at “a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people,” according to Google’s official blog post on the subject.  The goal of this ambitious project is to foster development of new bandwidth intensive applications, to experiment with new broadband deployment strategi ...

In our first official Podcast, we interview CEO Todd Thibodeaux about the IT Industry and how business and members can get involved.[podcast]http://www.comptia.org/media/Todd_Thibodeaux_CompTIA_021110.mp3[/podcast] download the .mp3 file

Putting the “rubber to the road,” as the saying goes; the IT Services and Support Executive Forum meeting in Toronto spent the second half of the afternoon focused on new initiative discussions. Sticking to the CompTIA Communities philosophy of sharing ideas and industry experiences, attendees offered up a variety of potential programs and topics in this part of the meeting. These sessions provide an opportunity for attendees to submit subjects that matter to their business and the i ...

As mentioned in previous articles, managed IT services and managed print services are moving beyond the adoption cycle to become readily accepted by both providers and end users. The topic was a large part of the discussion at the IT Services and Support Executive Forum meeting in Toronto today, with discussions on the core business drivers and the opportunities that exist for the various players. Matt McLeish, Director of Field Sales and Managed Print Solutions at Parts Now! started his manag ...

It’s been a busy day so far at the IT Services and Support Executive Forum meeting in Toronto, as the group shifted into discussions on certification and initiatives updates, as well as a review of the new CompTIA Communities.Initiatives are central to many of the organization’s goals. CompTIA members have started a variety of industry programs to strengthen the services industry and promote the groups’ initiatives. One example of this is the Canadian OEM PDI+ adoption program, a unique initiati ...

MSPs, VARs, vendors and other service providers converged in Toronto this morning for a meeting of the IT Services and Support Executive Forum. Excitement among the attendees was very high, with many expressing optimism at 2010 business and revenue prospects. This economic confidence was supported by the keynote presenter, Sebastien Ruest, Vice President of IDC Services and Technology Research. His discussion, From Virtualization to Cloud: Dealing with the Changing Economics of IT focused ...

After several cycles of tough international economic conditions, CompTIA’s IT Services and Support Executive Forum will highlight the industry opportunities at its first 2010 meeting in Canada. The event will be held today, in Richmond Hill, Ontario, with many IT service leaders in attendance to discuss the emerging business trends and learn how the community can benefit from several new technologies. In addition, attendees will participate in workshops where current and new industry initi ...

It is hard to believe that a full decade has gone by from a time when fear, angst, and anxiety across many aspects of the channel was focused on the “what ifs” of Y2K. You would be hard pressed to pick up any publication and not see something about the Y2K situation. Here it is ten years later and, yes we survived Y2K, but there is a similar media storm these days about security as more vendors, channel partners, and end-users turn to the “cloud” for everything from storage/back up to financial ...

Something that has occupied a lot of my thinking lately is the development of an industry-wide standard for managed services.  No matter who I talk to, from large OEM manufactures to the smallest of service providers, each sees value in the development of a standard that clearly communicates an MSP’s managed services proficiency to their customers, partners and vendors.  A standard would significantly help promote managed services to end users, differentiate strong MSPs from the less qualified, ...

Good, timely information is valuable.  A recent trip to New York reminded me of this when my wife and I made a last minute decision to eat at a trendy restaurant in SoHo. After a quick call, I secured a table, but only if we could get were there in the next half hour.  I punched the restaurant’s address into my phone and, thanks to the magic of the internet, Google, GPS and my iPhone – I am provided with walking directions to the nearest subway station, the train to catch and when it will arrive ...

It seems to me that a good starting point of any managed services conversation is to agree just what managed services are.  Though there are a lot of definitions that have been floated in the technology field, I like the definition that we at CompTIA vetted in managed services research last Fall, based on its simplicity and directness. We have since taken this definition to several groups, including CompTIA’s new Managed Services Community, and it seems to be generally accepted.  I like it so mu ...

Xerox will sponsor the CompTIA Educational Foundation’s 2010 Creating Futures Charity Golf Classic and the First Annual Creating Futures Charity Miniature Golf tournament. Both events benefit the foundation’s Creating Futures program which provides IT training and certification opportunities to individuals in need, including military veterans, individuals with disabilities, women, minorities, at-risk youth and dislocated workers.“It’s simply a win-win for all that get involved with our events, a ...