Comcast Business boosts enterprise services with AWS connectivity to 1M Ethernet-enabled buildings

Comcast Business (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is now offering business customers direct links to Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ: AMZN) through its status as an AWS Partner, giving customers private network connectivity to over 1 million Ethernet-enabled buildings.

While providing direct connectivity to AWS has become a checklist item in the larger business services segment, it's important for Comcast Business as it looks to appeal to enterprise customers that are looking for service alternatives to incumbent telcos like AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ).

Customers that sign up for the service can get up to 10 Gbps of dedicated Ethernet connectivity to AWS using Comcast Business Ethernet. The service is particularly suitable for multi-site businesses such as remote medical offices or financial institutions that want to maximize the performance when using AWS's compute and storage services.

By establishing itself as a member of the AWS Partner Network (APN), Comcast Business can connect more than 1 million Ethernet-enabled buildings in the Comcast network to additional AWS services like Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Solution (Amazon S3) and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC).

Integrating with AWS Direct Connect is another element of the data center and cloud program Comcast Business launched in 2014 to provide customers access to cloud solutions. As part of its cloud program, the service provider currently connects to over 400 data centers and cloud exchanges, providing dynamic access to multiple cloud providers to give customers diverse routes for their critical enterprise services.

Data center connectivity is a key element. By extending its services into more data centers, Comcast can now more effectively compete with a host of incumbent telcos and competitive carriers like AT&T (NYSE: T), Level 3 and Zayo, all of which have been increasing their presence in major data center facilities of Equinix and others while providing direct access to popular cloud providers like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Azure.

Comcast Business' agreement with AWS also plays into the emerging bring-your-own-cloud mentality that's been championed by other service providers. Being able to provide a flexible choice for cloud services will become even more crucial as it pursues larger businesses under its new Comcast Enterprise unit that will offer business services to Fortune 1000 business customers in the U.S.

Business services overall have become a larger portion of Comcast's overall revenue growth portfolio, rising 18.9 percent year-over-year to $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015.

For more:
- see the release

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