Remote monitoring and management and automation software provider N-able Technologies is bringing a mobile user interface to its next version N-central 8.0, available now.
The support for mobile clients is available on Apple’s iOS first starting now and the Android platform in the 8.1 release later this year. Why? Because every single MSP is using a smartphone or tablet in their work today with iOS in the lead at the moment and plenty of chatter about Android, too, according to N-able CEO Gavin Garbutt and Product Management and Marketing Director Robert Grapes.
N-able also plans to extend its monitoring support to those mobile devices in the future, the executives told Channel Insider, but could not provide a time frame yet. "It’s on the roadmap," said Grapes.
Other enhancements to N-central, according to the company, include a completely new look and feel; cross-customer dashboards, views and management; enhanced hardware discovery; a new scripting workflow; a mobile user interface for enhanced technician accessibility; and greater support and manageability for physical, virtualized, mobile and application-based technologies, the company said.
"With 8.0 we built in a lot of the ITIL concepts around change management, process and policy management," Garbutt said. "We are taking all the stuff that used to take so much time to do and we are automating it. Proper notifications, automated fixes, you can have this at a very basic level or advanced level depending on service technician’s requirements. We designed 8.0 to accommodate both." Before the release 100 partners were testing the beta of the new version of N-central.
The changes come a year after N-able released a free version of its basic endpoint monitoring tool designed to help MSPs conduct audits of customer sites that would identify problems and help sign up more devices for managed services and other services.
That approach has proven successful, according to Garbutt. N-able increased its number of managed SMBs by 86 percent over the year.
Now N-able’s new platform is adding even more. The company says that the new version of N-central offers organization level management, simple and complex filtering, rapid access UI redesign and enhanced VMware monitoring support. With these new tools and enhancements, MSPs and IT professionals can remotely manage and effectively support up to 750 devices per technician. That’s a huge improvement over an estimated 125 devices without the tools.
N-able notes that its N-central product family includes Essentials, Professional and N-support Pro, and seven complementary toolsets that work together to reduce IT support costs, improve network performance and increase productivity. A complete listing of the N-central solutions portfolio can be found here.
Existing N-able partners who have a current maintenance and support plan will be able to upgrade to N-central 8.0 free of charge. New N-able partners who purchase N-central 8.0 will receive free unlimited Endpoint Security licenses and unlimited Free Essentials licenses for six months from date of purchase. To accelerate adoption of N-central 8.0 and its 100 percent IT Coverage model, N-able is orchestrating a mass market freemium tools strategy for all MSP partners.
If you are looking for more information about N-central 8.0, N-able will host several webinars and face-to-face regional seminars throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa this month highlighting the technical and business features.