Buyout by SolarWinds great news for VARs, says N-able CEO

Consolidation going down in the management and monitoring channel

Consolidation is afoot in the monitoring and management arena with news that SolarWinds has acquired N-able in a $120m (£80m) cash deal.

Texas-based SolarWinds believes the deal will allow it to make greater inroads into the SMB space. Meanwhile, Gavin Garbutt, chief executive and co-founder of Ottawa-headquartered N-able, sent an email yesterday assuring the firm's managed service provider partners that the deal will be good news for them.

He explained that his counterpart at SolarWinds, Kevin Thompson, bought into N-able's 100 per cent channel ethos.

"We anticipate that SolarWinds will provide us - and ultimately our MSP partners - with a more advanced toolset, greater resources and valuable insights that will bring scale to our offering and better address, and anticipate, the needs of both SMBs and enterprises," wrote Garbutt.

"We believe that being a part of the SolarWinds family will bring significant benefits to you in the future. But it is important to note that right now little will change in terms of how you interact with the products, services and support. We are maintaining the N-able brand, our team and our long-standing commitment to selling exclusively to, and through, the IT channel."

SolarWinds runs its EMEA operations from an office in Cork and its UK distribution partners include Interactive Ideas and Avnet (formerly Magirus). Its new addition runs a UK outpost in Reading.