Last week’s news story about HP Inc. introducing a new Device-as-a-Service offering for this marketplace made me think of Larry Keating and his No Panic Computing (NPC) endeavour.
Keating first conceptualized Notebook-as-a-Service back in 2008 and at the time it was lauded as an innovative approach to managing hardware assets.
But what does HP’s new offering mean to the marketplace and to No Panic Computing?
Well this is what Keating told CDN.
“Clearly HP’s DaaS offering validates our original model and vision for endpoint device management. Clients are saying with certainty they want to get cost out through the entire procurement, ownership and disposal life cycle, while improving user satisfaction and in key areas, data security. It’s great to see HP are opening this opportunity up, and especially for Canadian channel partners to allow the partners to move their customers into these new transformative models,” Keating said.
But that’s not all Keating said. Keating also noted that while similar in nature, NPC’s secure managed endpoint offering is highly differentiated from HP’s. HP’s offering is device and device management centric.
And, Keating or NPC did do this in 2012. The Markham, Ont.-based manufacturer’s representative firm Keating Technologies switched gears and put the focus on security for his notebook-as-a-service business.
“While we include the device, we have advanced well beyond it to a more comprehensive solution. We include services and management right through to the Office suite, encrypted backup and high-level security that is pro-actively monitored 24/7 with unlimited support services for the entire package. Our more comprehensive model also allows us to deal with much smaller organizations than HP are targeting, which is good for both NPC and our channel partners in Canada, given the abundance of smaller organizations in Canada,” he said.
Now if you recall when NPC came out in 2008 HP was its top notebook supplier. Keating said HP continues to be the company’s go to partner for laptop, desktop, hybrid tablet devices and secure data backup.
He called HP products “excellent.”
“We have an outstanding relationship with them in Canada and the U.S. We’ve worked closely with HP since our inception in 2008 and they continue to be one of our most valued vendor partners.”
One quick hit before I go. Morgan Solar Inc. has appointed Mike Andrade as its CEO and member of its Board of Directors. Andrade said that Morgan Solar is an important company, especially for Canada as it helps with some of the key challenges we face today: addressing climate change; developing a globally competitive clean-tech ecosystem. Andrade takes over from Asif Ansari, who has transitioned into his new role as Executive Advisor to the Board & Management.