ConnectWise has introduced a new underlying foundation for its family of MSP line-of-business and security solutions, along with a next-generation RMM solution designed to be faster and more scalable than its predecessors.
Both products debuted on day one of the vendor’s 2021 IT Nation Connect partner event, which is taking place this week in Orlando.
Called Asio, the new platform is a set of more than 50 microservices collectively meant to provide a single heavily automated and highly scalable interface for everything technicians do.
“We want you to be able to solve problems faster and be more efficient, so we want to put everything in one spot for you,” said Chief Product Officer Jeff Bishop.
Centralizing microservices in one place, rather than scattering them across multiple products and supporting them separately, will also help ConnectWise roll out new functionality faster, he added. “We’re going to build these things one time, make sure they’re extremely secure, extremely functional, and fast and performant.”
Because they share a common code base, Bishop continued, Asio-based solutions are more like one big product than a set of distinct but integrated systems. If a technician adds a customer to a ConnectWise security solution, for example, it automatically appears in their RMM system too.
“Then you discover a new device in the RMM and it’s automatically available in the PSA,” Bishop said. The result, he added, is an entirely new and more efficient end user operating experience. “We’re re-imagining onboarding, re-imagining ticketing, workflows and much, much, much more.”
Asio includes a collection of open APIs designed to help third-party vendors contribute their data and functionality to the platform’s singe pane of glass. “They will have access to the exact same data layer services, UI components, and much more,” Bishop says.
Originally named Fusion and first discussed at the 2020 edition of IT Nation Connect, Asio is based heavily on the code base ConnectWise acquired two years ago when it bought RMM, BDR, and security vendor Continuum. The first solution based on the new platform, called ConnectWise Recover Complete BDR, shipped in June. The Command NOC service now runs on Asio as well.
The new RMM solution, built on the Asio platform and named ConnectWise RMM, is designed to be a next-generation successor to the company’s two existing RMM products—the on-premises Automate system and the cloud-based Command system—that’s both faster and more scalable. According to Bishop, that makes it a strong option for growing MSPs with large customer bases.
“Many of you are already starting to approach 30, 50,000 endpoints. Some of you have got line of sight to 100,000. Some of you 200,000. This product is right there for you,” he said.
As a cloud-based solution, ConnectWise says, the new RMM solution is easier to protect from ransomware and data loss than Automate. Like Command, it comes with optional outsourced NOC services.
There are no current plans to shut down either Automate or Command, and ConnectWise will continue adding new features and capabilities to both products. Command users who want to switch to ConnectWise RMM can do so immediately. An upgrade path from Automate to ConnectWise RMM is tentatively scheduled to arrive in the first half of 2022.
Both Asio and ConnectWise RMM, which is essentially a new version of Command featuring code and capabilities imported from Automate, are examples of far bigger work ConnectWise has been doing behind the scenes to merge its people, products, and programs with Continuum’s.
“We’ve been integrating those companies together for two years,” said ConnectWise CEO Jason Magee at the conference today.
According to ConnectWise, some 2,700 people are attending IT Nation Connect in person this year. The conference concludes on Friday.
