The global study, commissioned by Cisco Systems Inc. and conducted by research firm Canalys, indicates that despite global economic uncertainties, the projected outlook for managed service providers (MSPs) indicates a 12.7 percent increase in growth this year, reaching a total value of US$472 billion. The evolving ecosystem of IT partners selling managed services is adapting to meet customer needs and challenges by finding ways to modularize and package what once were customized solutions. Erin Gertner, vice president, Canada partner organization and SMB sales at Cisco Canada, said that MSPs play an “incredible role in the SMB market. Also, the study reinforced why we’re investing in this space. We have seen a huge uptick in our partners making investments in managed services. Further, the findings show that the managed services market is significantly outpacing the traditional IT industry.