partners + stack.

Active technology partners.

every partner listed is under an active agreement. no logo-wall-only relationships. each card includes why PCA picked this vendor.

Houston network.

PCA's extended team for specialized work beyond managed IT.

What PCA won't sell.

factual, non-libelous, based on direct experience with the products in real SMB environments.

• [X]
  GoDaddy hosting and email (SMB-targeted SKUs). historically shipped with poor security defaults, weak spam filtering, and offshore helpdesk without technical depth. M365 + Cloudflare delivers materially better security posture at a comparable price point. PCA has migrated multiple clients off GoDaddy email; the security gaps surfaced in every case.
• [X]
  Consumer-grade antivirus retail SKUs (Norton, McAfee retail, Avast retail). designed for home users, marketed to businesses. do not provide EDR, centralized management, or automated threat isolation. 10 endpoints with Norton is 10 independently-managed instances with no coordinated response capability.
• [X]
  Consumer-grade routers for business networks (ASUS, Netgear Nighthawk retail, TP-Link retail). not designed for the security, visibility, or stability requirements of a business network. lack centralized management, inconsistent firmware update cadences, and cannot be monitored remotely.
• [X]
  Legacy on-premise Exchange (Exchange 2016 and older in active use). known-vulnerable mail server requiring dedicated patching, backup infrastructure, and hardware refreshes. the migration path to M365 Exchange Online is mature. PCA will assist with the migration; it will not support on-premise Exchange as a steady-state environment.
• [X]
  Per-incident break-fix agreements sold as "managed IT". a monthly retainer for helpdesk queue access is not managed IT. PCA's managed services are active: VICTOR monitors continuously, patches automatically, and flags anomalies before the client notices.

Vendor selection criteria.

the actual decision process PCA uses when evaluating new vendors.

1. would daniel put this on his own infrastructure? if the answer is no, it doesn't go on client infrastructure. PCA runs its own operations on the same stack it sells.
2. does it reduce manual labor without introducing opacity? vendors that hide telemetry, require opaque agents, or create management blind spots fail this criterion regardless of feature list.
3. is the pricing model sustainable at flat-rate? per-seat licensing that grows with client headcount breaks the flat-rate model. PCA prefers per-device, per-tenant, or flat-rate licensing.
4. does the vendor have a real MSP support channel? vendors that treat MSPs like direct customers — no partner portal, no dedicated support queue, no advance notice of breaking changes — create operational risk.
5. has it survived a real incident? preference is always given to vendors tested in a real incident environment. SentinelOne's position is partly justified by its role in the Qilin ransomware containment. vendors evaluated only in low-stakes environments get a probation period before client rollout.

Referral partnership.