From Hype to here. Why MSPs deserve technology built for them, not around them.
Managed Service Providers sit at the centre of the world’s digital ecosystem. They support millions of businesses, protect billions of files, and carry the weight of keeping the modern economy online. More than 300,000 MSPs operate globally, collectively managing exabytes of critical customer data every single day. They work across dozens of industries, hundreds of systems, and thousands of individual customer requirements. They do all of this while balancing cost pressures, shrinking margins, constant cyber risk, and a growing expectation for flawless service.
Yet despite this responsibility, MSPs are still treated as an afterthought in much of the global tech landscape. Vendors claim to be “enterprise-ready”, but very few can honestly say they are MSP-ready. Too many products are built for single-tenant environments, oversized IT departments, and predictable workloads, only to be awkwardly retrofitted later for MSPs. For the people who actually power the digital world, this is not good enough.
This article is for the MSP community. It is a recognition of the challenges you face, the unseen complexity you manage, and the trust your customers place in you every day. It is also a statement of intent from Exaba. We believe MSPs deserve infrastructure built specifically for them. Not repackaged. Not compromised. Purpose-built from day one.
The Reality MSPs Live With Every Day
The role of the MSP has never been more demanding. In a typical week, a provider might:
- Manage backup and storage for hundreds of clients
- Support environments ranging from small businesses to global enterprise
- Navigate dozens of compliance frameworks
- Respond to constant ransomware threats
- Balance labour constraints, technical debt, and customer expectations
- Build services that remain profitable despite shrinking margins
The pressure is relentless. Customers expect fast recovery. Regulators demand clear evidence. Account managers want predictable billing. Finance teams monitor every cost. Yet MSPs still need to innovate, differentiate, and grow. Behind the scenes, these providers manage diverse infrastructure sprawl: VMware, Hyper-V, Nutanix, Azure, AWS, local servers, cloud-native apps, and now AI workloads. Every environment comes with its own quirks, costs, and constraints.
At the heart of all of it is one thing: data.
How it is stored, protected, recovered, and paid for. Backup alone now accounts for 60 to 80 percent of all data under management. With the rise of 3-2-1-1-0 strategies, immutable copies, air-gapped archives, and ransomware recovery layers, the storage footprint keeps expanding. So do the costs. MSPs are expected to make sense of it all. Often with tools never designed for their reality.
Enterprise-Ready? Or MSP-Ready? There Is a Difference
Being “enterprise-ready” is not the same as being “MSP-ready”. Enterprises typically manage one organisation. MSPs manage many. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, with totally different risk profiles, budgets, configurations, and service expectations.
MSP-ready means:
- True multi-tenancy
Not folders. Not workarounds. Actual, secure, isolated customer environments. - Simple, predictable billing
MSPs need usage-based cost analysis that makes sense, not complex, opaque pricing structures.. - Efficient, scalable operations
Not GUIs designed for enterprise teams with 100 engineers. MSPs need clean workflows, not configuration labyrinths. - Customer isolation and segmentation
Granular control, dedicated policies, clean boundaries between clients. - Integration with existing tools
MSPs should not have to reinvent their entire stack to adopt new tech.
When MSPs do not get these essentials, they are left to shoulder the burden. Products take longer to deploy, harder to recover from, and more expensive to support. Profit disappears. Trust is tested. Customers question value. And once trust is lost, it is almost impossible to regain.
Exaba: An MSP-First Company
This is why Exaba set out to build something different. We saw the disconnect between global vendor design and MSP reality. We saw the growing costs, the rising pressure, and the rapid expansion of backup data. And we asked a simple question: What if someone built cloud storage for MSPs, not around them?
LocalScaler is the result.
Exaba designed LocalScaler from the ground up as an MSP-first platform. No retrofits. No compromises. Every feature speaks to real-world provider needs:
- Economics that make sense
Ultra low cost object storage starting at 2 dollars per terabyte with no egress charges. Roughly one tenth the cost of hyperscalers. Cost predictability, finally. - True multi-tenancy
Secure, isolated customer environments that reflect how MSPs actually operate. - Simple billing and usage visibility
No hidden fees, no API traps, no complex calculations. - Hardware flexibility
Use your own hardware, preferred vendors, or simple standard servers. No proprietary lock-in. - Built-in simplicity
Deploys cleanly. Operates smoothly. Recovers quickly. Designed for MSP teams, not enterprise silos.
When you combine these elements, you get something powerful: a storage solution that strengthens your business instead of weakening it.
LocalScaler puts value back into the MSP stack. It gives providers margin, control, sovereignty, and the ability to deliver world-class backup and storage directly under their own brand. It gives enterprises better proximity and compliance. It reduces dependency on hyperscale models that were never designed with providers in mind.
From Hype to Here: Building a Future Where MSPs Lead Again
For too long, the cloud conversation has been dominated by hyperscalers, centralised infrastructure, and consumption-based models that push cost and complexity down to providers. But things are changing. Organisations want local data control. Regulators want clarity. Customers want trust. Proximity now matters more than ever.
The next era of cloud is not defined by size. It is defined by location, clarity, simplicity, and fairness.
This is the world LocalScaler was built for. A world where MSPs lead, not follow. A world where value is created locally, not extracted globally. A world where data sits closer to the people who depend on it, where transparency replaces guesswork, and where providers regain the margin and control they deserve.
Join the LocalScaler Revolution
Exaba’s ambition is simple: to become the number one provider of data services for MSPs globally. Not by shouting louder. Not by chasing hype. But by building technology that finally reflects the way MSPs work.
If you are an MSP who wants to protect your customers more effectively, strengthen your margins, and build data services that scale with confidence, we invite you to join the LocalScaler revolution.
It is time to bring data closer. It is time to rebuild value. It is time to put MSPs back in control.
The future is LocalScale. And it starts with you.