SolarWinds Acquires N-able, Sets Sights on Small Business Cloud Space

IT management software specialist SolarWinds is going after the small and midsize business (SMB) cloud market in a big way with the $120 million cash acquisition of N-able Technologies, a provider of cloud-based remote monitoring and management (RMM) and service automation software for managed service providers (MSPs).

The company said it expects the acquisition to close before the end of May, and believes a significant opportunity exists to more effectively serve small businesses’ evolving IT needs. SolarWinds aims to do this by empowering MSPs that offer management services targeting businesses with limited IT resources, helping to ensure IT environments are properly maintained.

“Upon completion of the acquisition, the addition of N-able to the SolarWinds family gives us the opportunity to respond to a growing need in the IT industry. As more and more small businesses begin exploring ways to deploy and efficiently manage IT and SaaS-based technologies to drive their businesses, MSPs are stepping up with cloud-based services designed to help ensure that IT environments are maintained and employees have the access and device support that they need to get their jobs done,” Kevin Thompson, SolarWinds’ president and CEO, said in a statement. “We’re excited to expand into another highly complementary branch of IT management that we believe is ripe for our disruptive go-to-market model.”

N-able has a track record of helping MSPs standardize and automate the setup and delivery of these IT services in order to achieve true scalability. SolarWinds plans to share additional details around future product direction, branding, positioning and pricing following the completion of the acquisition.

“N-able is very excited about this opportunity to join forces with SolarWinds to continue our mission to serve the MSP market and drive this next phase of growth,” Gavin Garbutt, CEO and co-founder of N-able, said in a statement. “We feel that this merger is a reflection of our industry-leading position and growth, the quality of our products and, most importantly, the performance of the N-able team worldwide.”

The acquisition allows SolarWinds to leverage the opportunity associated with growing adoption of the cloud and SaaS-based services among SMBs by enhancing its RMM offerings and adding MSP service automation to the range of management challenges that SolarWinds works to address for the IT industry.

In March, N-able announced the launch of N-central 9.1, a managed IT services platform that scales and supports hybrid IT environments and mobile devices, as well as Microsoft Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 platforms. Performance and tracking reports on all mobile devices supported by the platform can be generated as part of N-able’s Report Manager and can be customized to a company’s individual preference.