It’s been well documented that the cable industry views the lucrative SMB market as one of its next growth engines. Companies like Cablevision and Cox have had good success luring small, medium, and even enterprise businesses away from the telcos who have historically dominated that market. The growing competitive battle has companies like Verizon looking to step up their SMB game, by introducing new targeted products.
Verizon’s latest salvo is a managed router platform, offered in partnership with Cisco. Verizon says the new offering is ”an affordable turnkey networking platform that includes proactive 24×7 router monitoring and management.” The Verizon Managed Router Solution offers SMBs dedicated Internet access speeds from 1.5-megabit per second T1 to 50-Mbps Ethernet and comes with Cisco 1800 Series Integrated Services Routers, 500 Series Secure Routers, and 800 Series Routers.
Trying to capitalize on the lack of IT expertise in many small businesses, the solution includes configuration and on-site installation; 24×7 monitoring and management; Cisco maintenance and software support; a managed, built-in firewall; intrusion prevention and next-day repair, Verizon announced in a news release.
Andrew,
Thanks for sharing this insight about Verizon's latest managed network service offering. Service providers can also help SMBs discover how to apply the latest advanced collaboration services. Web-based collaboration tools are complemented with telepresence video capabilities that particularly benefit SMBs with geographically dispersed operations.