N-able, CA Team For Remote Backup Manager Solution

N-able will initially market CA's ARCserve D2D solution through its N-central platform at a cost to MSPs ranging from $10 to $28 per seat, depending on the complexity of the solution, said J.P. Jauvin, N-able COO.

"It's a new product called Remote Backup Manager in response to strong market demands from [MSPs'] customer demands," Jauvin said. " We took our time and looked at different players in the market. We wanted to ensure to provide our customers with the best solution at the best price. CA really stood out for their pedigree but also in terms of their technology."

N-able wanted a product designed for the SMB market, Jauvin said. "The D2D family fit the bill. It addresses all the strategic and technical objectives we set out for a product," he added.

N-able Remote Backup Manager will be available as a fully integrated tool in early 2011 but the company is offering CA's ARCserve D2D product, which serves as the foundation for Remote Backup Manager, at no charge for a 30-day free trial between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, according to N-able.

"We have a variety of different options from a simple, tactical backup solution to a more strategic disaster recovery solution, onsite at a customer's site or in a private or public cloud," Jauvin said. "Our objective is to provide a one-stop shop for MSPs and midmarket customers. A strong component of N-able's value proposition is the ability to create managed services products and Remote Bakcup Manager is one of those."

Jauvin couldn't say whether N-able might look to OEM additional functionality with CA or other manufacturers in the future as part of its overall solution. "The strategy is to provide our customers with the best technology at the best price. Whether we deliver it ourselves, or partner, it [doesn't matter]," he said.

CA Technologies plans to get more active in the MSP market and views the N-able partnership as a solid next step, said John LaCorte, senior director of MSP strategy for CA Technologies.

"One of the ways to becoming more relevant is by integrating ourselves within an ecosystem like N-able, which has best of breed in the RMM market. We can integrate our tool right in their dashboard and it helps us get to a place much faster than if we try to do it in a onesy-twosy fashion," LaCorte said.

N-able is CA's first RMM partner, but CA is "leaving the doors open" to explore future relationships too, LaCorte said.

"This is very strategic in that we are integrated into the platform. We have realistic expectations that not every major partner will be looking to do an OEM, but we want to be pervasive and ubiquitous," LaCorte said. He added that the N-able relationship won't overlap much with CA's acquisition of Nimsoft, another managed services platform vendor, because Nimsoft focuses more in the midmarket and enterprise, while N-able is strong in the SMB space.

"That's where this will be driving. They are two separate types of markets and this [SMB backup and recovery] really flows through the channel. We see this more as a channel play than through the enterprise side with Nimsoft," Lacorte said.