Level Platforms has released R2 of its Managed Workplace 2012 remote monitoring and management platform, a version that includes new automatic device identification and monitoring features and new persistent state management functionality, according to CEO Peter Sandiford.
The new features should make it easier for novice or smaller MSPs to get started and for larger or more experienced MSPs to be more productive and cut costs, Sandiford said.
"For onboarding new customers and maintaining those customers, it takes the work out of that basically. We think this really simplifies the work for MSPs. It streamlines the business. It removes enormous costs out of the delivery model."
[Related: MSP Roundup: Level Platforms Adds Salesforce.com Integration And More]
Among the improvements is an auto-grouping feature that enables the tool to automatically identify devices and place them in an appropriate group or groups for further management and updates. Previously, Level Platforms' MSPs had to undertake a more manual process to isolate and group devices, according to the Ottawa, Ontario-based company.
Managed Workplace 2012 R2 automates processes in three core stages: sales, onboarding and ongoing management, Sandiford said.
On the sales side, the auto-identification and auto-grouping helps create an analysis to take to customers, he said.
"What we've done is eliminate configuration. [Managed Workplace] finds devices with all the details, applies all the appropriate policies to capture information on performance and trending," Sandiford said.
Once a network audit is completed, the software can automatically switch to provide ongoing monitoring and management of the devices identified and grouped by MSP processes and different service levels.
"It discovers devices and knows how the MSP wants to manage them and delivers the configuration of the software and whatever else needs to be done to bring that application up to speed," Sandiford said.
The persistent state management feature ensures that a device will always run at the same level. For example, if a driver or application is accidentally deleted or corrupted, Managed Workplace will discover it and reset it.
"From an MSP point of view, he can go to sleep at night. No matter what events are happening, the software will automatically reset the configuration and policies to fulfill the SLAs," Sandiford said.
Sean Furman, president of STF Consulting, an Atlantic Highlands, N.J.-based MSP, said he's been looking forward to the new functionality for a long time.
"The auto grouping [is] a time saver on deployments with new clients or potential clients. We can quickly install ... Level Platforms' software, and as a new device is detected, it ends up with proper monitoring inherently. It will cut down on mistakes you make during the onboarding or provisioning process," Furman said. "There's a big time saving on the front and back ends."
PUBLISHED OCT. 16, 2012
