Attendees at Continuum‘s annual Navigate conference are getting a glimpse of new products and the company’s future vision this week in Pittsburgh.
Fresh off a rebranding in April that was the culmination of a $20 million investment Continuum made in new infrastructure for its underlying platform, and a year that saw numerous product rollouts as well as the opening of a new security operations (SOC) center in Pittsburgh, the vendor announced several new offerings in cybersecurity and automation today. Those are†key focus areas for the future, according to CEO Michael George (pictured), who told attendees in a keynote that “cybersecurity is the modern-day battlefield.” Continuum’s “secret sauce” of business intelligence,†machine learning, and automated autonomic computing will empower MSPs for that battle, George said.
Continuum debuted a†new cybersecurity certification program on the pre-day of the conference as well.
In the cybersecurity area, Continuum is expanding its Fortify solution (formerly Continuum Security) with new managed detection and response (MDR) capabilities, and is adding a new product, Fortify for the MSP, specifically to help managed service providers protect themselves. “Security starts at home,” Fielder Hiss, vice president of product, told attendees. “Fortify for the MSP will make it easy for you to implement these tools for your environment.” Both the MDR capabilities and the MSP product will be available in the fourth quarter.
The MDR extension for Fortify will include:
- Deep network and server log monitoring and correlation
- A single platform experience and intuitive interface across tools, built on BrightGauge, the managed services reporting vendor Continuum bought in Janiuary
- Comprehensive client value reporting capabilities
- Expanded Office 365 and Windows domain monitoring
- Integration with the entire Fortify solution†
Hiss said Continuum is also partnering with Fortinet to offer FortiSIEM as an additional backbone component for its MDR offering. Availability is targeted for mid-November.
Continuum Certify provides education for MSPs on the fundamentals of modern cybersecurity and is part of the Continuum Enable solution set, which was introduced in April along with the rebranding to “the platform for what’s next.”
The company also announced it has added automation capabilities to Continuum Command (formerly Continuum RMM). Available now, they include:
- Drag-and-drop front end functionality with logic for easy-to-implement†problem resolution
- Alert-based triggers to accelerate customer resolutions at the point of disruption without delay
- Increased third-party patching capabilities to deliver increased protection and service
- Customized device groupings to more effectively manage group triggers based on device, client, or any other attribute
The new automation capabilities are fully integrated with Continuum’s NOC and help desk services. The expanded features will also automate 10 of the most common help desk tasks that Continuum’s own team performs on a daily basis, addressing 22% of their total incidents.
In addition, Hiss said that while Continuum Command offers “massive value out of box,” some MSPs were outgrowing its capabilities in partner-driven automation, an area where the firm has been “investing heavily in the past 24 months, so you’ll never outgrow our platform.” Enhancements were made in static and dynamic device group, scripting, sequencing, and triggers.
Navigate19 North America continues today, featuring a keynote address from Daniel Eliot, director of education and strategic initiatives at the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA). Continuum will hold a second Navigate conference†in Las Vegas on October 15 and 16, marking the first time the IT management platform vendor is holding the event on both coasts in a calendar year.
