PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Comcast Business today announced the ability to deliver business Ethernet services to millions of homes within its footprint, providing employees working from home with secure connectivity to their corporate network. The new Ethernet @Home service, which is delivered over Comcast’s hybrid-fiber coax network, allows business customers such as financial and healthcare institutions to extend private links to their corporate networks to doctors, professors and analysts who work from home. Representing a dramatic expansion of Ethernet service availability, Ethernet @Home is an innovative new option for IT departments looking to connect employees as part of a comprehensive Ethernet network solution.
According to recent estimates from Global Workplace Analytics, approximately 50 percent of the U.S. workforce holds a job that is compatible with at least part-time work from home. Also, the Telework Research Network report “The State of Telework in the U.S.,” states that full-time teleworkers are expected to increase to nearly five million by 2016, an increase of almost 70 percent. Comcast’s Ethernet @Home addresses this trend as businesses look to extend connectivity to employees working from home using a unified Ethernet network that offers simplified monitoring and management for IT.
“In healthcare, the network is crucial. A key role of healthcare IT is to ensure that clinicians have uninterrupted access to images, EMRs and other information to care for patients when and where needed,” said Jayashree Raman, vice president and chief information officer for Cooper University Health Care. “Comcast’s Ethernet @Home gives our radiologists the ability to quickly and securely review images and patient files from their homes over Cooper’s private network, letting them provide the best care for their patients in a timely manner.”
Based on Comcast’s extensive hybrid fiber and coax network reach, Ethernet @Home offers short installation intervals with low construction costs and efficient integration with fiber-based end points of a customer’s existing Comcast Business Ethernet service. Available in multiple service types, Ethernet @Home is designed to address a variety of use cases, including:
- Healthcare – can provide connection to physicians and other healthcare employees as well as executives working from home.
- IT – network and application managers need secure access to the cloud or other corporate IT assets to monitor and address service issues at night or on weekends.
- Corporate Executives – many companies want to provide secure, private connectivity to their executives for accessing the corporate network from their homes.
- Professional Sports – coaches, general managers, owners and other staff want secure, private connectivity for accessing the team’s network and sending confidential information about contracts, playbooks, trades and other details from home.
“As the hours and locations of today’s modern workplace become increasingly flexible, business are spending too much time addressing connectivity issues due to a poor user experience or log-in errors with their VPNs or remote desktop services over the public Internet, resulting in frustrated and unproductive employees working from home,” said Scott Cassell, senior director, Enterprise Data & IP, Comcast Business. “As part of our strategy to offer Ethernet everywhere, Ethernet @Home helps eliminate that complexity and provides a user experience for employees at home that is the same as if they were at work – their corporate network is just there and available – opening up secure, high-performance teleworking options for more workers.”
Due to its significant potential to increase Ethernet service availability in the U.S., Ethernet @Home was recently awarded the Best Service of the Year for North America in the Metro Ethernet Forum’s (MEF) 2014 Ethernet Excellence Awards. The judging panel for the MEF awards includes senior industry analysts and Ethernet experts from IDC, Infonetics Research, Vertical Systems Group, Gartner, Frost & Sullivan, Ovum and the Rayno Report. Comcast Business also was awarded Best Application of the Year in Health, Best Application of the Year in Government as well as the Ethernet Industry Person of the Year.
Generally available across the Comcast Business footprint, Ethernet @Home comes in Ethernet Dedicated Internet (EDI), Ethernet Private Line (EPL) and Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) service types at symmetric bandwidth speeds up to 10 Mbps and backed by a service level agreement.
About Comcast Business
Comcast Business, a unit of Comcast Cable, provides advanced communication solutions to help organizations of all sizes meet their business objectives. Through a next-generation network that is backed by 24/7 technical support, Comcast delivers Business Internet, Ethernet, TV and a full portfolio of Voice services for cost-effective, simplified communications management.
For more information, call 866-429-3085.
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About Comcast Cable:
Comcast Cable is the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses. Comcast has invested in technology to build an advanced network that delivers among the fastest broadband speeds, and brings customers personalized video, communications and home management offerings. Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.
