N-Able Adds Security Patches to Managed Services

N-Able Technologies Inc., of Ottawa, Ontario, Monday added remote security patch management and software updates to its OnDemand managed-services platform. The company is powering its PatchIt Online service with technology from Roseville, Minn,-based Shavlik Technologies LLC's HFNetChkPro.

With PatchIt, say N-Able and Shavlik executives, service providers can respond to emerging security threats more swiftly and effectively.

About 600 VARs, integrators and service providers use the N-Able platform to deliver managed services to their customers. Security is at or near the top of the priority list for a growing number of customers, and managed-services providers have been beefing up their security offerings to meet the demand.

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"A big part of our strategy is to add the tools we feel our partners can use for incremental services," said N-Able CEO Mark Scott.

PatchIT Online enables MSPs (managed service providers) to automate the scanning, assessment and remediation of patches at end-user customer sites.

The tool alerts technicians when systems need updating and allows them to automatically patch and update the systems as part of regularly scheduled maintenance sessions.

Managing these tasks remotely is more cost-effective and efficient than doing them manually. Cost and efficiency are among the top reasons VARs, integrators and service providers in the past couple of years have been making strides to adopt the managed-services model.

Through managed services, channel companies take over some or all of a customer's IT functions and create a predictable revenue stream for themselves.

Scott said N-Able plans to integrate more tools into the OnDemand platform in coming months so service providers can transfer more and more of their functions to the remote-management model.

"By the end of this year, we'll probably have six or seven tools integrated into N-Able OnDemand," he said.

Adding third-party functionality to OnDemand not only helps N-Able's partners to do more for their customers, but also makes delivering the services administratively easier. N-Able becomes the single point of contact when partners have questions or issues regarding one of the third-party tools, Scott said.

Shavlik CEO Mark Shavlik said the integration of N-Able OnDemand and NetChk "creates the industry's first integrated solution for comprehensive patch management and remediation in a pay-as-you-grow model."

N-Able OnDemand services also include remote network and systems monitoring, security vulnerability assessments, and web-based IT support.