Vertiscale workspace as a service targets healthcare vertical
Vertiscale designed its new workspace-as-a-service offering for small and medium-sized healthcare practices; more IT channel news from the week.
Vertiscale has launched a workspace-as-a-service offering for managed service providers in the healthcare vertical.
The company said its cloud-based service lets managed service providers, or MSPs, offer their healthcare customers remote access technology. The workspace-as-a-service offering provides secure, remote access to applications, desktops and protected health information (PHI) from any device, according to Vertiscale. In addition, Vertiscale provides security tools that the company said helps MSPs deliver Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant IT services to clients. The tools also help MSPs' customers prepare for HIPAA audits.
Vertiscale's security toolset includes the company's HIPAA drive file store and a cloud-based log of each time PHI is accessed, according to a company spokeswoman.
Jon Senger, CTO at Vertiscale, said more than a dozen MSPs have signed up for the service thus far.
One such company is Untangled Solutions, an MSP that works predominantly with small and medium-sized medical practices. Chris Johnson, CEO at Untangled Solutions, cited Vertiscale's focus on healthcare, in contrast to a generalized workspace-as-a-service offering, as a plus.
"Their goals align with our focus on the healthcare vertical," Johnson said.
Johnson said Untangled Solutions is in the rollout stage with Vertiscale in several practices. He said his company aims to incorporate Vertiscale within its managed services offerings.
Senger said Vertiscale is targeted toward small to medium-sized healthcare practices, which typically lack an on-site data center but might have a server closet.
Xirrus releases CommandCenter
Wireless networks company Xirrus introduced CommandCenter, a control function allowing MSPs to rapidly activate and provision Wi-Fi as a service. CommandCenter is available with Xirrus Management System for MSPs.
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Bruce Miller, vice president of product marketing at Xirrus, said many of Xirrus' MSP partners report an increased demand from customers for stronger Wi-Fi networks.
"We're increasingly seeing a lot of market momentum around [Wi-Fi] rolling out across many, many verticals. The small and medium businesses [SMBs] are the obvious ones," he said. "[SMBs are] a fast-growing segment. ... And the MSP is ideal for that."
Miller also cited education as a growing market segment, largely because of the funding for technology provided through the E-Rate program.
IT channel news roundup for the week of Feb. 29
Here's a look at the channel news highlights from the week:
- TelePacific Communications, a managed services and business communications vendor, entered a definitive agreement to acquire DSCI, a managed services provider based in Waltham, Mass. In addition to bolstering TelePacific's capabilities in unified communications, managed IT and connectivity services, the acquisition extends TelePacific's market reach in the SMB market from California, Nevada and Texas to the DSCI's customer base in the Northeast. As the companies integrate, DSCI will operate under its own name as a TelePacific company. DSCI's senior management team will remain in place.
- Distributor Avnet signed an agreement with Permabit Technology to provide SANblox, a data-reduction product for Fibre Channel-attached storage.
- Also for Avnet: Market research firm Frost & Sullivan awarded the distributor with the 2016 Manufacturing Leadership Award in the "Supply Chain Leadership" category.
- Networking vendor Extreme Networks named Gordon Mackintosh as its senior director of worldwide partner program and sales business development. In his new role, Mackintosh will oversee the development of the Extreme Partner Network program.
