Microsoft, SolarWinds Help MSPs Remotely Manage Devices
Companies integrate Microsoft 365 tools with SolarWinds’ RMM solution
Microsoft and SolarWinds are making it easier for MSPs to monitor and protect devices managed by Microsoft’s Intune cloud solution.
The Lowdown: The two companies this week announced that they will integrate Microsoft 365 capabilities with SolarWinds’ N-central and remote monitoring and management (RMM) solutions.
The Details: Through the partnership, SolarWinds partners will be able to monitor devices managed by Intune through SolarWinds’ dashboard, which will give them a single view of devices, management capabilities, and reporting capabilities.
Partners that deploy subscription plans such as Microsoft 365 Business Premium will be able to discover devices managed by Intune and monitor them within the N-central or RMM dashboards, ensuring that all client devices will be manageable from a single point and with the same configuration and alerting policies.
SolarWinds’ N-central, a tool for managing complex networks, can be run either on premises or as a hosted solution, enabling MSPs to onboard, configure, protect, and patch hundreds of devices, and to resolve issues quickly.
MSPs also will receive notifications and alerts for all devices and will be able to pass those alerts to their professional service automation (PSA) solutions.
The new capabilities will be rolled out later this year.
The Impact: The ongoing transition to long-term and permanent work-from-home situations, due in large part to the sudden shift to teleworking in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, means that MSPs are seeing the number of devices under their purview grow quickly. As the workforce becomes more distributed, MSPs and other channel partners will need tools to manage the devices in highly decentralized environments.
The Buzz: “Nearly 90% of the workstations our partners manage run Microsoft operating software, and Microsoft 365 is the productivity suite most of them use,” said Mav Turner, group vice president of products for SolarWinds MSP. “The ability to monitor and service devices that are managed under Microsoft Intune from right within the N-central or RMM main dashboard will be a huge productivity boost and enable our partners to offer more comprehensive service and protection for the myriad of devices they manage.”
“In these challenging times, small and medium-size businesses need, more than ever, to empower all their employees to work from anywhere and on any device in a secure way. Microsoft 365 integrates Office productivity apps and collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams with advanced security and device management capabilities,” said Nathalie Irvine, general manager of Microsoft 365. “We collaborated with SolarWinds, a leader in the MSP software space, to make it simpler for managed service providers to secure data and devices using the security and management services in Microsoft 365.”
Related Links:
CHANNELNOMICS:
>SolarWinds Comments on New Patches From Microsoft
>SolarWinds Makes Hybrid IT Scenarios Easier to Manage
