Comcast Business, the commercial services arm of Comcast, has launched a new hybrid data center and cloud program designed to give customers of its Ethernet platform more flexible and efficient access to critical tasks and functions such as data storage/backup, billing, and Web site hosting.
Comcast Business, which launched private Ethernet services in 2011, said it has extended that fiber-based platform to multi-tenant data centers and cloud exchanges, noting that the plan will help it broaden that access in its footprint to more than 1 million Ethernet-enabled buildings.
Comcast Business said it’s adding the capability as its customers look to mix private and public cloud services, based on the requirements of specific applications.
Under the program, Comcast Business is building direct connections into cloud exchanges to give its Ethernet customers scalable access to a range of cloud service providers. As part of this strategy, Comcast Business said it has secured private connections with automated provisioning to multiple cloud services through the Equinix Cloud Exchange at 10 Gbps, 1 Gbps and sub-gigabit connections.
Comcast Business said it has extended its fiber network and Ethernet services into more than 325 data centers across the U.S., spanning individual Tier I facilities that local businesses use for data back-up to regional, to multi-facility Tier IV providers that offer colocation, managed hosting and cloud services with replication across diverse geographies.
“For CIOs and IT departments, sourcing their business applications to a multi-tenant data center or cloud is only viable if their business locations have private Ethernet connectivity to ensure application performance would be the same whether the server is on-site or hundreds of miles away,” said Mike Tighe, executive director, data services, Comcast Business, in a statement. “Our focus is on being the data center and cloud-neutral transport provider that empowers businesses with a choice in hybrid IT solutions and massive Ethernet network reach to connect data centers and cloud services to more than one million Ethernet-enabled buildings.”
Comcast is introducing the program as business services continues to be a major revenue growth driver for the MSO. The operator’s business services unit generated $1.01 billion in revenues in the third quarter of 2014, putting it on an annual run rate of more than $4 billion.
