Nimsoft says that partners in 2008 will also get certification programs and virtualization support beyond VMware.  

Managed services platform provider Nimsoft is in the process of developing a software-as-a-service offering for its service provider partners to offer to their customers.

The plans were among a handful for the Redwood City, Calif., company in 2008 that CEO Gary Read recently shared in an interview with Channel Insider.  As Nimsoft moves toward its SAAS offering in the second half of 2008, the company will also likely introduce a certification program for MSPs (managed service providers), Read said.

Also on the agenda for the self-described service-level management platform provider are plans for a hosted service offering, or "service delivery portal."  The program is designed to enable partners to deliver MSP and SAAS services to customers, but without the need to do software implementation, installation, administration or maintenance.

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"The end user would pay the service provider on a monthly basis," said Read. "We are in beta testing now and will soon make announcements around that."

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Virtualization also remains a priority for Nimsoft in 2008. The company has 80 customers using its technology for management of their virtualization infrastructures. Read said Nimsoft will further develop its relationship with VMware but also branch out to support other providers as well.  On the list are Citrix, Microsoft and Oracle. 

That's because while VMware has been a leader in the space, other vendors are gaining ground.

"In general, service providers will end up with a heterogeneous multivendor environment for virtualization," Read said. "The only game in town has been VMware, so everyone has wanted to align with VMware.  But we are starting to see it more and more that there are some concerns around it. The pricing model is different for other platforms. We are starting to see that people want to keep flexibility within their virtualized infrastructure."

Read said 2007 was a strong year for privately held Nimsoft, with total bookings reaching $29.4 million, a record for the company. Most of Nimsoft's business comes from enterprise customers and about a third comes from its MSP partners.

Nimsoft realized a 131 percent increase in subscription revenue, primarily driven by managed services customers. The company's MSP partners include CDW Berbee, FusionStorm, Rackspace Managed Hosting and Ramesys.

 

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