NOVI – Red Level has been named by MSPmentor to the MSPmentor 501, a listing of the world’s top 501 managed services providers. MSPmentor describes its ninth annual listing as “the IT channel’s largest and most comprehensive list of leading manage services providers worldwide.”

The MSPmentor 501 listing is based upon factors such as the range of services provided, economic performance, and industries served. Approximately 85 percent of 2016 named companies are based in North America.

“Of course we are enormously pleased to be included in the MSPmentor 501,” says Red Level CEO Dave King. “We’ve taken our place alongside some very strong and well-known names, and have outranked a good number of them. I find that enormously gratifying.

“Red Level set out to establish itself as an undisputed area leader in the managed services field. Now as more and more companies opt for managed solutions and overall adoption increases, we can really see our strategy paying off for us and for our clients,” says Ed Aube, vice president of Red Level’s managed services division.

Red Level’s inclusion in the prestigious annual listing comes despite the increasing difficulty companies face in achieving MSPmentor’s standards. MSPmentor states that it has made adjustments with regard to quality, transparency, and applicability qualifications, among other factors. Meanwhile, an increasing number of companies operating in the MSP space has created greater competition for customers and contracts, as well as for inclusion. The managed services space has grown to a formidable size: MSPmentor cites $9.82 billion in recurring annual revenues for its listed companies.

The 2016 MSP 501 ranking and the supporting study were produced by MSPmentor’s parent firm, Penton Technology, along with the Quincy, MA-based Clarity Channel Advisors, creators of the widely known Clarity Intelligence platform.

Participating firms were assessed in part based upon revenues arising from several channels, with true managed and cloud services revenue being the most strongly weighted. Additional channels included professional services, consulting, and hardware sales. The study also evaluated firms’ per-employee productivity as a measure of the organizations’ overall productivity and capacity.