MSP Cloud

SaaS Program for Kerio Connect and Kerio Workspace Unveiled

By Jayashree Adkoli
MSP News™ Contributor

In an effort to expand cloud-hosting options for its channel partners, Kerio Technologies – a provider of unified communications, collaboration and security solutions – has launched a software-as-a-service (SaaS (News - Alert)) initiative for its Kerio Connect and Kerio Workspace.

With the help of new SaaS program, the Kerio Connect and Kerio Workspace - available as on-premise and hosted solutions -can now be deployed in a monthly subscription model with no software license required.

The Kerio Connect is a messaging, calendar and contacts server, which can be used as an alternative to Microsoft (News - Alert) Exchange for medium and small businesses. It delivers business-class email, shared calendars and contact management to email clients, web browsers and mobile devices at lesser cost and IT overhead.

Providing businesses with secure email and messaging in one low cost package, the Kerio Connect features integrated anti-virus, powerful anti-spam, built-in archiving, automated backup and an easy admin interface.

The Kerio Workspace is an online file sharing and social collaboration tool, which creates a single place for coworkers to get the latest version of any document, effectively syncing the entire company's content across all desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets.

Officials with Kerio said in a press release that the new Kerio SaaS program allows the company’s channel partners to provide Kerio software to their clients as an on demand service, while generating a monthly recurring revenue stream with a simple pricing model.

VARs and MSPs can now provide their clients with hosted editions of Kerio Connect and Kerio Workspace that provide each with its own private cloud and with sole ownership of its own content, when they sign a Kerio SaaS agreement.

“Kerio’s SaaS program makes it more convenient for VARs to offer Kerio products as a hosted service,” said Mirek Kren, vice president of sales, Kerio Technologies, in a statement. “They simply pay a monthly invoice based on peak usage. It is a great way for them to appeal to customers who are looking to take advantage of the benefits of cloud computing while paying a monthly rental fee rather than make a large investment in IT.”

“We are quite pleased with how simple it has been to use the Kerio SaaS model,” said Guy Algot, CEO, Graphic Dimensions, a Kerio Authorized Partner in Edmonton, Alberta, in a statement. “When a customer needs to add users, we can do so without having to purchase additional licenses. We go live as soon as a customer signs up and have been growing our business because we’re providing stable Kerio products with flexible deployment options and better prices for our clients.”

In recent news as reported by MSP News™, Kerio had added enhancements to its Unified Threat Management (UTM) firewall appliance, the Kerio Control 7.2.