15 Hot Products From XChange 2022

Attendees at the XChange 2022 conference in Denver got a chance to get the first look at a variety of new technologies aimed at helping solution providers, particularly MSPs, find new ways to serve their customers.

MSP High-Tech In Denver

XChange 2022 attracted a record number of solution providers, particularly MSPs, with the prospect of learning new ways to grow their business, networking with their peers and of course looking at the latest technologies.

Attendees at XChange August 2022, hosted by CRN parent The Channel Company, got the chance to see new technologies, whether it was via on-stage presentations, boardroom sessions or the crowded Solution Provider Pavilion. While there were some new hardware offerings including mobile computing devices and power protection, the majority were new software and services aimed at helping MSPs add new services and recurring revenue opportunities to their customer offerings. These included services around security, networking and data protection.

CRN has rounded up some of the offerings that grabbed reporters’ attention in Denver.

What follows are 15 hot products for solution providers from XChange 2022.

Axcient: Measuring Data Protection Health

Cloud data protection software developer Axcient this week unveiled two new ways to look at the health of MSPs’ backups for customers. Adam Preeo, vice president of product for the Denver-based company, said the goal is to help MSPs and their customers know the state of their backups given that 85 percent of small businesses are likely to get hit by ransomware.

The first new technology, the Cloud Health Digest Report, is aimed at technicians looking for an easy way to manage their day-to-day processes and ensure data is properly backed up and can be recovered, Preeo told CRN. The Cloud Health Digest Report offers a single-pane-of-glass look at all the information related to backups. “Prior to this, we had a slimmed-down view, but with little detail,” he said. “Technicians still needed to do deep dives to get the information they needed.”

The second new technology is Axcient’s Backup History Report, which offers up to two years of detailed backup history to help understand usage patterns and optimize backups, Preeo said. “We now offer the ability to email or text client updates or to allow customers to log in to get a report,” he said. “It also includes SLA [service-level agreement] health. While MSPs want to see every alert, they can’t always see them. Now, there are alerts specifically for when backups are out of SLA down to the client level and device level. Alerts can be sent to customers or their MSPs or both.”

Binary Defense SOC-as-a-Service

Stow, Ohio-based Binary Defense offers its Security Operations Center as a subscription service to act as an extension of a company’s IT team to shield against attacks. By pairing security technology with a dedicated, trained and experienced security staff, Binary Defense offers around-the-clock protection. The Binary Defense Security operations Task Force analysts detect and analyze advanced attack patterns and alert customers of threats as soon as they are identified.

BlackCloak’s New Mobile Device Protections For Top Executives

BlackCloak has carved out an impressive high-end niche within the security industry: digitally protecting corporate executives, board members and other top employees and their families at home from cyberattacks.

And Orlando, Fla.-based BlackCloak recently unveiled new mobile device security features that have been added to its Concierge Cybersecurity & Privacy Platform.

They include a QR code scanner for an additional layer of malware protection on personal devices; a malicious calendar detection technology to detect suspicious invitations and newly added calendar items; and an enterprise-grade VPN to reduce the risk of both network and endpoint-driven threats.

BlackCloak was recently named one of CRN’s Emerging Security Vendors To Know In 2022.

CyberPower CP1500PFCRM2U PFC Sinewave

CyberPower’s Sinewave short-depth UPS system provides battery backup, surge protection and EMI/RFI noise filtering for security systems, audio/visual equipment, networking and storage devices, and requiring an active PFC power source. The Shakopee, Minn.-based company said the unit is user-friendly, with a multifunction color LCD control panel to quickly confirm status and alerts at a glance. The unit’s software also provides advanced control of the UPS, including scheduled shutdown/reboot and email notifications.

Cytracom ControlOne

Allen, Texas-based Cytracom’s ControlOne rethinks connectivity, security and networking. With a combination of firewall, VPN and SD-WAN, the software-defined perimeter creates a single cloud-based network and optimizes bandwidth.

ControlOne also allows for customizable settings so that every employee can follow the same security policy, no matter if they’re working in the office or remotely.

The platform also captures data to allow for troubleshooting and meeting compliance standards. The unified platform includes a software and hardware component. The hardware bridge allows for protection of IoT and unmanaged devices, WAN optimization, seamless per-packet failover and site-to-site routing.

The software agent always has DNS and Web Security on, optimizes SaaS and cloud, has public Wi-Fi protection and offers device posture checking.

Dynabook Portege X30L-K 13-inch Laptop

Irvine, Calif.-based Dynabook (formerly known as Toshiba) and the Portege X30L-K business-class lightweight laptop prove that great things can come in a small package. Weighing a mere 904 grams, the machine is powered by the new hybrid architecture 12th Gen Intel Core processor. The laptop features an attractive aluminum chassis that’s just 17.4 mm thick when closed. A fingerprint reader and IR face recognition will keep ther new machine safe.

Egnyte: New CMMC, Snapshot Recovery Capabilities

Cloud-based storage technology provider Egnyte used XChange to introduce its new cybersecurity maturity module certification (CMCC) package for MSPs as a way to help them bring government compliance technology to their clients. Eric Anthony, director of MSP community and enablement for the Raleigh, N.C.-based company, told CRN that the company has had CMMC capabilities for its direct customers but needed to package it specifically for MSPs so they can get access to the necessary training and marketing material. “We are already talking to MSPs about this, and a few are already selling the technology so we can gather their input,” Anthony said.

Also new from Egnyte this week is an expanded snapshot recovery technology. Anthony said all vendors allow snapshots of an entire data set and recovery on a file-by-file basis. Egnyte, however, now takes a snapshot of the customer’s entire environment every four hours in addition to the normal file versioning, and allows access to the snapshots within 15 to 30 minutes from resilient data buckets, he said.

INKY’s Outbound Mail Protection

INKY Technology, provider of a cloud-based communication security platform, recently added more email safety features for its customers via the launch of its Outbound Mail Protection. College Park, Md.-based INKY said the feature’s enhanced Mobile X and diverse policy enforcement creates a more flexible user experience.

“Traditional DLP [data loss protection] systems scan outbound emails looking for content that violates established policies,” said Dave Baggett, co-founder and CEO of INKY, in a press release. “With major user interface limitations, these systems send flagged messages to quarantine, often without notification to the sender or their manager. INKY Outbound Mail Protection manages a multistep approval workflow, providing enforcement within the email system itself. We recognized the market need to offer a complete email security solution that addresses both inbound and outbound message exchanges.”

Baggett also said that “INKY customers can now provide their end users with improved accuracy in detecting and managing policy violations.“

Nerdio Manager For Enterprise For Windows 365 Optimization

Microsoft Azure automation specialist Nerdio, based in Chicago, recently launched new Nerdio Manager for Enterprise features that help MSPs optimize Windows 365 licenses to reduce the cost of their virtual desktop environment. Rather than paying license costs for any employee in an organization who could use a cloud PC, Nerdio is making it easy for enterprises to pay only for those users who actually do.

New features launched this year in Nerdio’s Manager for Enterprise offering includes Windows 365 license auto-assignment, which allows organizations to avoid paying for unused licenses by assigning users a Windows 365 license only upon first login. Users who never log in will not consume a license. Another new feature automatically detects when users who have logged into their Windows 365 desktop at one time are no longer using it and reclaims the unused license, making it available for other users. Admins dictate how long the cloud PC must not be used to be considered “unused” and can remove the license to save on monthly subscription costs or reassign it to another user.

Nerdio Manager and Windows 365 together aims to alleviate traditional Desktop-as-a-Service concerns around cost, management and scalability, making the combination a compelling asset for any remote work or digital transformation initiative.

NextivaOne

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Nextiva’s NextivaOne allows customers to engage across any channel-talk, text, email and video, in a single place and offers integrated productivity tools to automate tasks.

NextivaOne eliminates siloed communication channels by delivering a seamless experience to communicate confidently with customers from anywhere. Users can instantly start or schedule a video meeting, send messages, share files and more and are accessible on the web and desktop version.

It also allows users to quickly import business contacts from Google or Office 365 to Nextiva as well as integrate the platform with Google or Outlook Calendar to manage and create calendar events directly from NextivaOne.

Scale Computing Fleet Management For Edge Computing

Indianapolis-based Scale Computing launched a new Fleet Manager offering for edge computing and MPSs in a move to make managing and monitoring the health of distributed IT infrastructure easier than ever. Unveiled in May, Scale Computing’s new offering consolidates real-time conditions for a fleet of clusters, including storage and compute resources—allowing IT leaders to quickly identify areas of concern using a single pane of glass, scaling from one to over 50,000 clusters.

Instead of managing individual deployments, the new Fleet Manager gives users the ability to see and manage their entire fleet at once from an intuitive cloud-based console. Connectivity and cluster health can be checked with a quick glance.

Any problems across the fleet are highlighted automatically, and if there is an issue IT administrators can easily drill down into a specific cluster to further diagnose and fix the problem.

Schneider Electric’s APC NetShelter Rack PDU Advanced

This year, Schneider Electric launched its new its APC NetShelter Rack PDU Advanced, providing data center leaders with greater flexibility to meet the new data demands placed on businesses.

The APC NetShelter Rack PDU Advanced enables teams to support up to twice the number of devices, while also simplifying installation processes and taking the guesswork out of PDU selection for future IT refreshes.

In terms of improved agility, the West Kingston, R.I.-based company’s APC NetShelter Rack PDU Advanced outlet design avoids costly layout changes. Unlike traditional PDUs with a fixed number of individual outlets, the new 4-in-1 combination outlet simplifies selection, speeds installation and provides greater flexibility to support future modifications.

To accommodate the ever-increasing number of devices in each rack and additional power needs, the new offering has up to twice the number of outlets to provide 50 percent more power to maximize data center investments.

Sophos’ New Cloud-Native Security

Cloud security is a fast-growing part of the cybersecurity industry and U.K.-based Sophos isn’t missing a beat in addressing cloud-native security issues as more companies migrate from on-premises to the cloud.

Last month, Sophos, unveiled its new Cloud Native Security, which is designed to provide security across environments, workloads and identities.

“It gives customers comprehensive, centralized visibility, prioritized detections and faster incident response time,” Sophos said in a recent blog post.

The company added: “The Sophos Cloud Native Security bundle is a single SKU that includes Sophos Intercept X Advanced for Server with XDR and Sophos Cloud Optix Advanced.”

Vertiv Liebert GXT5 Lithium-Ion UPS

The Vertiv Liebert GXT5 Lithium-Ion UPS provides the highest level of power protection for business-critical IT applications. The rack/tower convertible design of the Vertiv Liebert GXT5 Lithium-Ion UPS is ideal for edge or distributed IT applications.

The Columbus, Ohio-based company’s low-maintenance, set-it-and-forget-it offering is usable for remote work locations with limited on-site technical resources.

It provides the highest level of power conditioning and battery backup for IT equipment, such as business network gear and servers, ensuring mission-critical applications are protected in the event of an unexpected loss of power. The GXT5 Lithium-Ion UPS protects against the widest range of power fluctuations and automatically switches to battery backup when power loss is detected.

Wasabi’s New Replication Tech

Wasabi used XChange to discuss the company’s new inter-data center and intra-data center replication technology. Drew Schlussel, senior director of product marketing for the Boston-based cloud storage provider, said the technology is important to partners.

“We haven’t made a big noise yet,” Schlussel said. “But this is a big deal for partners. Even though we haven’t advertised it yet, we’re seeing demand for the technology rising.”

The replication technology, which is available at no extra charge unless extra capacity is required, took time for Wasabi to develop and make available at all the company’s 13 co-location sites worldwide, Schlussel said.

Wasabi this week also launched a campaign with Columbus, Ohio-based data protection vendor Veeam to show how they work together for Microsoft 365 data protection, he said.

“We’re beating the drum around awareness,” he said. “It’s remarkable how many Microsoft 365 customers don’t know their data is not protected.”