Kaseya Acquires RapidFire Tools To Beef Up IT Assessment, Compliance Capabilities
Kaseya, the IT infrastructure management technology developer, on Wednesday unveiled the acquisition of RapidFire Tools, developer of a suite of IT assessment, threat detection, and compliance tools.
Dublin, Ireland-based Kaseya plans to integrate the security and compliance tools of Atlanta-based RapidFire Tools into its MSP-focused IT Complete suite of management solutions. Even so, RapidFire Tools will continue as an independent, standalone business unit.
RapidFire Tools' suite of tools include Audit Guru, which provides compliance automation, documentation, and deployment; Network Detective, which offers MSPs network and security assessment capabilities; and Cyber Hawk continuous cybersecurity threat detection and alerts.
Despite the integration with Kaseya's IT Complete suite, RapidFire Tools technology is slated to remain an open platform where, like other Kaseya acquisitions, it will continue to integrate with other MSP-focused vendors, including Kaseya competitors, the company said.
RapidFire Tools is Kaseya's second big acquisition for 2018. The company in May acquired Unitrends, a data protection and data management technology developer, and made it a part of the Kaseya management platform.
A source close to Kaseya told CRN that the two companies have been talking about a potential acquisition for about nine months. During that time, the two also collaborated on developing a new offering, Kaseya Compliance Manager (KCM).
KCM, also unveiled Wednesday, is a comprehensive compliance management offering that is fully integrated with the Kaseya IT Complete platform and Virtual Systems Administrator, and helps MSPs and internal IT organizations monitor and manage compliance for such regulations and requirements as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI, and more.
RapidFire Tools' offerings were already great standalone products, but will be better as part of Kaseya, said Brett Johnson, president of Simpleroute, a South Burlington, Vermont-based managed services provider and Kaseya partner.
Johnson, who has been looking closely at signing on with RapidFire Tools, told CRN that it had already occurred to him that the two companies would be better together.
"Funny, I was just talking to my Kaseya account manager and told him, Kaseya should just buy RapidFire Tools," he said. "We have been dancing with RapidFire Tools because we see the value of their tools. This acquisition makes it easier for us to decide to work with them. Kaseya will integrated it into its overall Kaseya One management console to make it part of a single pane of glass automation."
RapidFire Tools is the ideal partner when looking at customers' networks, Johnson said.
"They can see things like a customer who has too many accounts active in their Active Directory," he said. "This lets MSPs tell the owner, 'Here are all these open accounts that can be used as an entry to your network.' It works for MSPs who can go into existing and new clients to see if something is not PCI compliant. And it's great as a way to show where other vendors have failed to take care of security."
Kaseya and RapidFire Tools executives were unavailable to provide more information to CRN by press time.
However, Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola in a prepared statement called the acquisition of RapidFire Tools a strategic win for Kaseya and its customers.
"With this acquisition, and the integration of RapidFire Tools’ compliance solutions into the IT Complete suite, we are now able to offer our MSPs a solution for them to build a compliance managed service offering, ensuring that a Kaseya MSP offers their customers the most complete solution possible," Voccola said in the statement.