Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda welcomes Brian Babineau as new General Manager

Ever since Barracuda acquired Intronis MSP Solutions back in October, I’ve been impressed with how much our teams have been able to get done together. We’ve launched two new products for MSPs and expanded internationally—all within six months. Whenever I visit our Chelmsford, MA, office (Intronis HQ), the energy level and effort I witness are remarkable, and I can see why we’ve been able to get so much done so quickly.

Here are a few highlights:

• March 16, 2016 – Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda expands its offerings to include a subscription-based hardware solution,Barracuda Backup – Intronis MSP Edition


• April 18, 2016 - Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda is now operational in the UK


• May 4, 2016 - Intronis MSP Solutions begins offering Barracuda Essentials for Office 365, a suite of cloud services that combines email security, archiving, and backup in a single solution, to MSPs

And, we’re going to build on that momentum with new MSP-specific firewall offerings and initial integrations with Barracuda products into the Intronis ECHOplatform.

One of the reasons we have experienced so much momentum was the appointment of Brian Babineau to lead our integration efforts once the acquisition closed.  Brian was responsible for driving back office communication and product collaboration.  Today, I am excited to announce that Brian will be stepping in to lead the Intronis MSP Solutions team as its new general manager. Brian is taking over for Rick Faulk, a dedicated leader who has done a great job building and guiding Intronis over the past few years.

I’ve worked with Brian for more than 18 years, and I believe he’s the perfect leader to ensure the continued success of our MSP business and further align Barracuda with the MSP community. Over the past two years as Barracuda’s VP of Product Marketing, Brian has led and helped transform the company’s product and channel marketing strategy with a long list of accomplishments under each umbrella.  To help you get to know Brian a bit better, I wanted to ask him a few questions about his transition to the new role:

Q & A

Q: When do you officially take over as GM of Intronis MSP Solutions?

A: I took over on May 20, which will allow me to work with the team through the end of Fiscal Q1 and start off Q2 with momentum.

Q: What excites you most about working with the MSP community?

 A: It’s an exciting time to be a managed service provider. With more companies transitioning to the cloud, security concerns that are constantly evolving, and IT environments getting more complex every day, demand for managed services is growing quickly. I look forward to working with the Intronis MSP Solutions team to help MSPs find new ways to meet these needs and build successful businesses.

Q: What are you looking forward to about your new role?

 A: I’ve been impressed with the close relationships our team has developed with our MSP partners, whether it’s partner success managers answering questions and helping them get the most out of our solutions, or the marketing and sales teams introducing new partner enablement resources and meeting partners at our local lunches. I’ve seen firsthand the investment in helping MSPs succeed, and I’m looking forward to getting to know our partners better.

Q: How will our engagement with MSPs change?

A: Our MSP strategy remains the same, and we must continue our focus. We will still expand products, integrate ECHOplatform with Barracuda’s central management solutions, and grow internationally.

Q: What are some of the customer concerns Intronis MSP Solutions can help MSPs solve?

A: Predictable pricing is always a top concern for MSPs and their customers, and with our fixed monthly pricing we’re able to provide total protection for their business-critical data—including security and data protection—in a way that customers can easily build into their budget. Simplicity is also a big concern for MSPs, and in a recent survey, our partners pointed to ease of use and ease of deployment as two of the top reasons they’re satisfied with our products.

 Q: What exciting opportunities are ahead for MSP partners?

 A: There’s a fundamental need to protect individual devices and endpoints that are connected to a network. This means next-generation security solutions need to offer easy scalability to secure all IoT endpoints that remain connected to the network along with optimizing network traffic. Barracuda has this technology available with its NextGen Firewall product line, and adding these firewalls to the Intronis MSP Solutions offerings will present a strong opportunity for MSPs to help further protect their customers.

Q: What advice can you offer MSPs based on the recent market trends you’re seeing? 

 A: Like in any technology space, you have to be able to adapt because trends change so quickly. Currently, organizations have to deal with challenges like monitoring remote employees, managing cloud backups, and even securing and onboarding new technologies like Office 365. The landscape changes quickly, and you have to pay attention to be prepared. For example, phishing can lead to ransomware infections, which can compromise a company’s data—and their reputation. And, these two threats are on the rise in a big way. To properly protect their customers and help them recover if disaster does strike, MSPs need to provide both email security and backup solutions.

 Q: Customers want to save money without cutting any corners. How can Intronis help MSPs meet this need?

 A: A common trait among all Intronis and Barracuda solutions is that the pricing has always remained predictable, which allows the customers using them and the MSP partners managing them to plan without any surprises. Solutions are updated regularly without any hidden fees to ensure all customers are receiving the best technology available, and the choice of purchasing additional services is always left up to the MSP.

 Q: From a channel partner perspective, what advantages does Intronis MSP Solutions have over other vendors?

 A: In addition to our solutions streamlining deployment of complete data protection and business continuity strategies for MSPs, Intronis provides fixed monthly pricing and a central place to manage customer invoicing. This allows our partners to simplify the billing process and makes it easier to define service offerings, plan profit margins, and grow their businesses.

 Q: How can you help MSPs move clients to the cloud?

 A: Intronis and Barracuda are heavily focused on offering flexible options for IT channel partners and their customers to easily address cloud migrations and deployments. For example, the Intronis ECHOplatform is uniquely designed to simplify how IT service providers deploy SaaS data protection while creating new opportunities to expand margins. Additionally, by offering Barracuda Essentials for Office 365, MSPs can reinforce Office 365 offerings with services that add control, security, and functionality to the fast-growing suite.

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BJ Jenkins is President and CEO, Barracuda Networks.  Connect with him on LinkedIn here.