LPI Releases MSP Platform Patch

The platform vendor made version 5.01 of Managed Workplace available last week after some MSPs voiced concerns over the reliability of the vastly expanded version 5.0 as well as the earlier version 4.04, said Peter Sandiford, CEO of LPI, Ottawa.

Version 5.0, which rattled the market with disruptively low pricing, can at times lose reporting contact with the very server it’s on as well as with other network devices, said Shawn Masterson, vice president of Excel Computer, an MSP in Bangor, Maine.

A security concern was reported by MSP Dean Bickmore, vice president of sales at SilverTree Technology, a new LPI partner in Tulsa, Okla. “A customer can hit the management console if they know the URL,” he said.

For MSPs planning to move forward with the version 5.x upgrade, another MSP suggested that glitches in version 4.04, such as the failure of events that show up on the management console to make their way into the event log, might make it difficult to upgrade. The MSP, who requested anonymity, said deleting version 4.04 altogether, then rebooting to an updated 5.x version, may yield a more reliable product.

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Another MSP, Doug Barratt, system engineer at Data America, Oldsmar, Fla., said he’s been using LPI since the 3.0 series and praised the product, even though he’s seen upgrade issues ranging from lapses in reporting data, to glitches that trigger complete uninstalls that wipe out the existing SQL database of event log information. Data America plans to upgrade LPI customers to version 5.0 but will do so carefully, Barratt said.

Other LPI customers do not intend to remain so faithful. Dan Stratton, CEO of Innovation Networks, an MSP in Richmond, British Columbia, said he is decommissioning LPI as he ramps up a competing MSP platform from Cittio, San Francisco. Years of repeatedly having to call LPI sales to nudge LPI tech support into action have burnt out his own technical team, Stratton said.

The low cost of leasing Cittio has neutralized the advantage of LPI’s low subscription pricing, he said.