GroundWork Launches Free Monitoring Software for Non-Profits | MSPmentor

GroundWork Launches Free Monitoring Software for Non-Profits

GroundWork Inc. has launched a free monitoring platform that targets network, application and cloud management. But there’s a catch: The free offering, called GroundWork Monitor NPO, is for non-profit organizations and open source projects. There’s also a side story here. GroundWork is striving to help customers use open source and proprietary management tools in tandem. Here’s a closer look at the strategy.
First, the free offer. Organizations must be approved by GroundWork to use GroundWork Monitor NPO for free. The criteria for non-profits includes:

• Non-profit
• Non-government
• Non-academic
• Non-commercial
• Non-political
• Secular

And the criteria for open source use includes:

• Established code base
• Publicly available project website
• Using an approved open source license

Meanwhile, there’s a side story here. GroundWork Inc. used to be called GroundWork Open Source. But the subtle name change shows how GroundWork is striving to appeal to MSPs and enterprise administrators who may prefer proprietary software. According to GroundWork’s company description:

“GroundWork’s approach gives customers the flexibility to use diverse open source and proprietary technologies together under a unified web services portal, allowing users to leverage the advantages of open source while simultaneously preserving existing investments in legacy management tools.”

Still, it seems like GroundWork’s interest in the managed services community has subsided a bit. In September 2010, GroundWork launched an MSP portal and MSP pricing. But that portal ((http://msp.gwos.com) appears to have gone dark, and the URL redirects to GroundWork’s home page.


GroundWork Launches Free Monitoring Software for Non-Profits | MSPmentor