IT Nation Secure: Announcements & Lynn Williams (EP 832)

[Uncle Marv]
Hello friends, Uncle Marv here, recording my first recording at IT Nation Secure 2025, and this is the event put on by ConnectWise and IT Nation, this year's event, June 2nd through the 4th, so June 2nd was yesterday, I drove up from Fort Lauderdale, it was a nice little drive, and we are here at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee, Florida, and expect to be joined by 1,000 to 1,500 MSPs, vendors, industry leaders, all that stuff.

So, for those that don't know, this conference is designed to empower MSPs to become cybersecurity leaders for their clients. There's going to be lots of sessions with actionable insights, hands-on training, and exposure to the latest security technologies and business strategies. So, this is a conference, I mentioned C, MSPs, but there's also going to be some CISOs, some CTOs, compliance officers, that will be joining us.

There's going to be 60-plus breakout sessions, 20 hands-on labs, and then, of course, keynote speakers from within the industries, and of course, the Solutions Pavilion. So, this year, there are more than 65 vendors in tow. I will be making my usual swag run and filling the bag and giving you a report on the swag after the conference.

So, key themes this year are, of course, AI and hyper automation for cybersecurity. There will be some deep exploration about how artificial intelligence and automation are transforming threat detention, protection, and security operations, and, of course, governance risk compliance, and then management and leadership. So, let me go ahead and start.

Since I'm recording at 9 a.m., this was the first time that I could actually announce some of the revelations that are happening here, and the first thing is a big announcement that is taking place here. A landmark collaboration, ConnectWise, has partnered with Microsoft and Pax8 to launch the ConnectWise Endpoint Management and Security for 365. This is a new offering available through the Pax8 marketplace, and it provides MSPs with a turnkey solution to manage, secure, and automate endpoint environments for their small business clients.

The package integrates Microsoft 365 Business Premium, ConnectWise RMM Pro, managed detection and response for Microsoft Defender, and unified backup and security dashboards. So, this should help streamline procurement, provisioning, and billing, and give you enhanced security and operational efficiency, which I think all of us as MSPs are looking for. Also introduced by ConnectWise is the latest version of its security information and event management platform, otherwise known as SIEM.

It is purpose-built for MSPs and is powered by the ConnectWise ASIO platform. The updated SIEM unifies log management, threat detection, and response within a single interface, reducing operational complexity, cutting cost, and boosting productivity. And then the third big announcement, ConnectWise also unveiled PSA, powered by ASIO, a modern professional services automation solution with a unified interface, shared data model, and embedded AI-driven automation.

So, alongside ConnectWise Pro, debuts as a comprehensive platform bundle, consolidating PSA, RMM, RPA, remote support, documentation, and more under a single contract with flexible licensing. These advancements help to eliminate tool sprawl, reduce manual work, and enable hyper-automation, allowing MSPs to simplify operations and focus on service delivery. So, these are some of the big announcements, and we'll see if I can get some of the ConnectWise C-level folks to ask them a little bit more about these that go beyond what they're going to announce in the keynote speeches and the announcements on stage, but that is what we're looking forward to here at IT Nation Secure.

Of course, I've got interviews with some other vendors. We're going to seek out some MSPs, and all of that will be done here live on Radio Row at the Gaylord in Orlando, Florida. So, we just wanted to give you a little preview, folks.

I'm going to start interviewing people just after this, and I should also give a special thank you to our travel partners that helped make this possible, and those partners LionGuard, BVOIP, and TruGrid. LionGuard is our special gear sponsor for 2025. bvoip and TruGrid are our travel partners.

They are promoted here on the travel banner, and I'll have a very special announcement for each of those before each of these podcasts, and then we will seek to get them a little bit more recognition and thank them more throughout the show. So, that's going to do it, folks. I look forward to doing these interviews.

I hope that you get something out of it, and that's going to do it for this recording here at IT Nation Connect. We'll see you soon, and until next time, holla! 

Hello, friends. Uncle Marv here, recording live at IT Nation Connect at the Gaylord Resorts, and I have a very, and when I say very special episode, folks, you think a lot of times I don't mean it, but I do. I have Lynn Williams with ASCII here, and a podcast for the gay community. First-timer, this will be interesting.

Lynn, welcome to the show.

[Lynn Williams]
Thank you so much, Uncle Marv. Happy to be here.

[Uncle Marv]
So, I've had all the other women of ASCII on. Why not you, and why only now?

[Lynn Williams]
Well, I was waiting for the right moment because it's a very special opportunity for me, too, to be sitting here with you, Marv. So, very happy to be here.

[Uncle Marv]
What do you think, you know, Jesse and Brianna, you know, are they going to rib you afterwards?

[Lynn Williams]
Absolutely. We are a tight crew at the ASCII group, and I'm sure we'll all be talking about something interesting that comes from this.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. So, you're here. ASCII has a booth.

[Lynn Williams]
Yes.

[Uncle Marv]
And tell me about what you guys are doing here, and how's it been going so far?

[Lynn Williams]
Absolutely. Well, you know, we are part of the community area here, along with some of the other fine communities out in the channel, and we've had great conversations. So, it's great to get out, you know, away from our events, which are also wonderful.

Obviously, our ASCII Edge and our Taste of Success events, but to get to talk to people who don't know who we are yet, which I know it's hard to believe there are people out there yet that don't know who the ASCII group IT community is. And it's great to get out here and kind of spread our wings and talk to people. It's fabulous.

[Uncle Marv]
I mean, it is good. You get comfortable in your own environment, and, you know, the ASCII tour, even though, you know, it's eight, nine events a year, always different cities. You're right, people don't always get out and don't always get to see you.

So, it's good to see you guys here, and be a part of the other communities that are out there.

[Lynn Williams]
Absolutely. Well, we're very honored to be here and be a part of this great, great, great event. And of course, Sean Lardo has brought us in, and we're very grateful that...

[Uncle Marv]
Don't give Lardo credit.

[Lynn Williams]
No, I had a good lunch with Mr. Sean Lardo the other day, and he works hard to help keep this, keep everything moving. So, I appreciate that.

[Uncle Marv]
He does. So, I'll ask you real quick, because I, you know, we've, I know you've got other things. You're a busy gal.

Any shout outs that you want to give while you're here?

[Lynn Williams]
Oh, that's hard. I'm going to shout out to Alan Weinberger. He's a...

Hi, Alan. Our fearless leader, who is probably the wisest, most humble man, other than my own father, that I've ever met. You know, leading the vision, and you know, over 40 years, we've been around for 40 years.

So, carrying the ASCII group IT community through all the changes, and just a shout out to Alan today.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. You're going to leave it at that, huh?

[Lynn Williams]
Well, let's see. Josh Lieberman's standing right here, so I can't leave him out, right? Yes.

And Jerry Koutavas, of course, came back home.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. Don't be just listening to ASCII people.

[Lynn Williams]
Oh, gosh. All right. Let's see.

Well, you had mentioned Brad Gross. So, part of our Taste of Success events, I have a really great...

[Uncle Marv]
Speaking of, before, you know, I'm going to stop that, because we were supposed to have one in Fort Lauderdale, where I live, and very close to where Brad lives.

[Lynn Williams]
Yes.

[Uncle Marv]
What happened?

[Lynn Williams]
Well, we are going to do this. We started this two years ago. We started with about four events, and they've been very successful.

We reach out to communities that we don't reach with our Edge events. And I definitely want to get down to Fort Lauderdale. And I'm from St. Augustine, so it's very easy for us to get down there.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah, but it didn't happen.

[Lynn Williams]
Well, I'm trying to think where we ended up having to go that year. I think it was Salt Lake City, but I know...

[Uncle Marv]
We had to go.

[Lynn Williams]
We had to go to Salt Lake City.

[Uncle Marv]
I got to go there last month.

[Lynn Williams]
Nice. So, yeah. Sit down here.

So, yeah. So, our Taste of Success events, I'm going to do a shout out to Brad Gross, who's our speaker at these events. Of course, you know, he offers substantial, obviously, amazing support for our ASCII members in many ways.

So, shout out to Brad Gross. And then Channel Hunters is part of our Taste of Success. And so, you should really check them out, and obviously, NUSO as well, because those are the group that puts together the Taste of Success events.

And, you know, if you haven't been to one, and you aren't in the regions that we have our Edge events, reach out to me at, you know, Lynn at ASCII.com, and I'll set you up, and we'll take you to dinner.

[Uncle Marv]
Perfect. Five minutes.

[Lynn Williams]
Oh, my.

[Uncle Marv]
Didn't think you'd last, did you?

[Lynn Williams]
No, I didn't. But it was a pleasure, Mark. It was a pleasure.

[Uncle Marv]
Thank you for sitting down and trusting me with this podcast experience, your first one.

[Lynn Williams]
Absolutely.

[Uncle Marv]
We'll talk about it later.

[Lynn Williams]
I've been with ASCII for 10 years, and this is my first podcast.

[Uncle Marv]
I was going to let that go, but you threw that in there.

[Lynn Williams]
I've been busy. ASCII's been busy.

[Uncle Marv]
You are a busy gal, but we're not going to talk about what that busyness is.

[Lynn Williams]
Okay. Well, thank you very much.

[Uncle Marv]
Lynn Williams, ASCII, find her, chat with her. Don't drink wine with her. We'll be back with more from IT Nation Connect.

I'm sorry, IT Nation Secure in Orlando, Florida. We'll see you soon. Holla.