GFI Max claims company breakway will make it faster

Co-founder says relaunching the RMM outfit as LogicNow will improve its speed to market for its 11,000 MSP partners

GFI MAX claims its imminent split from parent GFI Software will boost its speed to market for managed service provider (MSP) partners.

GFI Software formally splits into two separate entities next week as part of a corporate restructure, with remote monitoring and management (RMM) product GFI MAX forming the rump of the newly created LogicNow brand.

GFI's private cloud products, meanwhile, will retain the GFI moniker.

LogicNow general manager Dr Alistair Forbes said splitting off the cloud business would mean more focus for GFI's 11,000 global MSP partners.

"The rationale behind the separation is to allow each of those businesses to focus on the specific needs of their customers," Forbes told CRN.

"The way we build, deliver and support our cloud-based services such as the MAX products is very different from the way we deal with the traditional on-premise software. Our intention now is to focus all the investment in the LogicNow business into those cloud-based solutions with a view to maximising our speed to market for them."

GFI leapt into the RMM space in 2009 through its acquisition of HoundDog, which was at that time a relative minnow in comparison to the likes of Kaseya and Level Platforms, Forbes admitted.

Forbes, who co-founded Dundee-based HoundDog, said GFI's involvement had enabled the brand to grow large enough to go it alone again and claimed GFI MAX – which will be renamed MAXfocus – is now the largest RMM player by coverage.

"We were very much the new entrant in the market [in 2009] so the access to technology and investment and route to market we had through being part of GFI has dramatically accelerated our managed services business," he said. "But the advantages it gave us then are no longer as valuable to us and we now have enough revenue and enough brand reputation to go it alone."

"We now have about 11,000 [MSP] customers and we believe that's about twice as many as the nearest competitor," Forbes said, adding that the firm would step up its expansion into Asia next year.

The split, which will go live with customers next week, sees no changes to the management team and investors behind each business.