Frontier today launched Frontier Connect – Cloud, which will use the Frontier Ethernet network, in combination with the Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric, to offer customers access to any of numerous third-party cloud service providers. The goal is to offer a dedicated, private and more secure connection in comparison with relying on the internet for cloud connectivity.
Carriers like Frontier connect to the Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric at interconnection points, thereby gaining access to more than 100 cloud providers – an approach that eliminates or minimizes the need to establish their own agreements with the cloud providers.
Frontier Connect – Cloud
Frontier Connect – Cloud is underpinned by software-defined networking, the company noted in a press release.
“Frontier Connect – Cloud offers secure, reliable, scalable connectivity to business-critical cloud services,” said Frontier Senior Vice President of Commercial Product & Marketing for Frontier, in the press release. “The service is easy to deploy and flexible, regardless of business size or geographic location.”
Companies like Frontier that started out as local exchange carriers and don’t offer wireless services increasingly have been emphasizing residential broadband and the commercial market as traditional voice revenues decline. In the most recent quarter, Frontier’s commercial revenues were $962 million – somewhat less than the $1.07 million in revenues that the company earned on the residential side.
Frontier already offers some cloud services through partnerships with cloud providers and through its own cloud, but the deal with Equinix will expand substantially upon the number of cloud services it can help customers reach.