Multi-million dollar investment provides fastest speeds to businesses of all sizes

Comcast Business is expanding its advanced fiber network in Sarasota and Southwest Florida to offer local businesses Ethernet services with speeds up to 100 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps), making it ideal for businesses that need bandwidth to move large amounts of data for operations like video conferencing, streaming, multiple users on a Wi-Fi network, file sharing and back-up, and cloud-based applications.

With greater needs for increased bandwidth on smaller budgets, businesses today need efficient and cost-effective networking options that allow employees in different offices to communicate seamlessly. Comcast Business offers efficient and scalable options to help employees collaborate with each other and communicate with clients.

Comcast made the announcement at the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County Annual Meeting at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota on September 9. Comcast Business was the Presenting Sponsor for the event.

“There could be no better occasion than at our annual meeting to announce the exciting news that Comcast Business is expanding its network here, as we gather to reflect on our region’s recent successes and bright economic future,” said Mark Huey, President and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County. “We look forward to seeing how the expanded service offerings and community support fuel additional business and job growth across Sarasota County and in Southwest Florida.”

Sarasota’s business climate recently earned it recognition from CNBC, which ranked the city 15th among its Top 20 Metro Areas to Start a Business in America.

“Multi-gigabit speeds and reliability are critical for businesses today, and in a thriving area like Sarasota, those needs are growing exponentially,” said Reggie Scales, Vice President, Business Services for the Comcast Florida Region. “Not only will our network deliver the highest speed and capacity to area businesses, it’s also built to easily accommodate future growth in Sarasota and across Southwest Florida.”

Comcast’s services can also be used by businesses that need a redundant or second network to support business continuity and provide file access, back-up and recovery in the event of a disaster. This can be particularly critical to Florida businesses during hurricane season when severe weather can cause power outages or make office buildings inaccessible.

Comcast Business serves schools, businesses, hospitals, and other organizations that require large amounts of bandwidth, are looking to link multiple locations, or that plan to connect their offices to a third-party data center. Services offered include:

• Ethernet Private Line: point-to-point connectivity between two customer sites for bandwidth-intensive applications.
• Ethernet Virtual Private Line: point-to-multipoint connection to enable customers to tailor bandwidth, performance characteristics, and cost.
• Ethernet Network Service: multipoint-to-multipoint connectivity to connect organizations with high-bandwidth requirements and multiple locations across Comcast’s network.
• Ethernet Dedicated Internet: continuous, high-bandwidth connectivity between customers’ LANs and the public Internet.

This is Comcast Business’s second major expansion announcement in Florida in less than a month, following its August announcement in Tallahassee. Comcast has continually expanded its network in Florida since it began delivering multi-gig (up to 10 Gbps) Ethernet service to businesses in the state in 2011.

Nationally, Comcast Business’s Ethernet services are delivered over an advanced network that spans 150,000 miles and features a 100 Gbps backbone and expanded local footprint through Ethernet over hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC). Bandwidth is available up to 100 Gbps and can be scaled in increments and offered in three different classes of service, backed by strict service level agreements and monitored 24x7x365 from Comcast’s dedicated Network Operations Centers.

The network expansion into Sarasota and Southwest Florida will also make a variety of other Comcast Business services available to local businesses, including TV and Business VoiceEdge, a cloud-based voice and unified communications solution that helps employees be productive even when they’re away from their desks by delivering HD-quality voice service and an innovative user experience accessible via computers, desktop phones and mobile devices.

Source: Comcast Business
with Business Wire