Comcast Business Provides Enterprise Customers with Private Ethernet Connectivity to the Microsoft Cloud
January 12, 2017
Comcast Business today announced that it now provides enterprise customers with private links to the Microsoft Cloud, including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Office 365, and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Comcast Business customers can now receive up to 10 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) of private network service to the Microsoft cloud, supporting the diverse mix of enterprise class cloud services offered by Microsoft.
Private cloud connectivity provides businesses with predictable and often better performance, security and availability compared to connecting over the open internet, and is backed by a service level agreement (SLA). Joining the Microsoft ExpressRoute partner program, Comcast Business is making the Azure ExpressRoute service available to its more than one million Ethernet-enabled buildings nationwide.
“As businesses increasingly rely on cloud services to virtualize more of their IT applications, they require connectivity with measurable performance, reliability and security,” said Rosemary Cochran, principal at Vertical Systems Group. “The addition of Comcast Business to the Microsoft ExpressRoute partner network offers companies the cloud connectivity they need, backed by the reach and flexibility of Comcast’s expansive Ethernet service footprint.”
More than 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies use the Microsoft cloud, and more than 120,000 new businesses are joining Azure every month. In addition, Microsoft indicates that one in four of its enterprise customers are using Office 365.
“A key part of our cloud and data center initiative is giving businesses private, secure access to cloud providers for increased options and flexibility as they build out and customize their hybrid architectures. Working with a market leader in cloud services like Microsoft is a great benefit for our customers,” said Jeff Lewis, vice president of data services at Comcast Business. “And as CIOs and IT leaders look to expand their use of Microsoft Azure for more line of business applications where performance and security are critical, we can give them a new Ethernet network option that turns their WAN into a LAN, connecting their dispersed office locations, data centers and cloud services.”
Comcast Business’ network connects to over 500 data centers as well as cloud exchanges for dynamic access to multiple cloud providers.