Large tier one cable companies have long coveted the revenue and margin rich business services sector. It’s one of their more promising growth areas, and its coming at the expense of their telco competitors.
Comcast just raised the stakes, with the introduction of Comcast Metro Ethernet service, which is now available in 20 markets. With the move, Comcast can now approach larger organizations with their business services product suite, expanding beyond their current small business focus. The service targets businesses with 20 – 500 employees.
“Our fiber-rich network powers our Metro Ethernet services and provides a secure, reliable and cost-effective solution for mid-sized businesses’ data needs,” said Bill Stemper, President of Comcast Business Services in a press release. “Metro Ethernet is quickly overtaking T1 and other legacy services as the preferred technology for business communications.”
Comcast will offer the following Ethernet product suite:
- Ethernet Private Line Service – point-to-point connectivity between two customer sites for bandwidth-intensive applications.
- Ethernet Virtual Private Line Service – a point-to-multipoint connection that allows customers to tailor bandwidth, performance characteristics and cost to meet the needs of their applications.
- Ethernet Network Service – multipoint-to-multipoint connectivity to connect organizations with high-bandwidth requirements and multiple locations across Comcast’s network.
- Ethernet Dedicated Internet Access Service – continuous, high-bandwidth connectivity between customers’ LANs and the public Internet.
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They’ll offer bandwidth from 1 Mb/s up to 10 Gb/s that can be remotely scaled in increments of 1 Mb/s, 10 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s or 1 Gb/s. The new service is Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) certified and Comcast claims they’re the first carrier to receive MEF 9, 14 and 18 certification.
Telco competitors like Verizon and AT&T aren’t exactly shaking in their boots from these moves, given their global reach and vast enterprise business lines. But success in the SMB and enterprise markets from the likes of Comcast, Cox, and Cablevision are not trivial by any stretch and they have nowhere to go but up.
