* Verizon Business introduces the Enterprise Mobility Suite
Verizon Business hit the ground running last week with the introduction of two new services for enterprises that marry MCI’s IP network with Verizon’s nationwide wireless coverage.
Verizon Business announced the Enterprise Mobility Suite, which is an enhanced version of MCI’s remote access services with the addition of Verizon’s broadband wireless access. Verizon Business also announced new wireless broadband back-up services that allow enterprises to use Verizon’s wireless network for business continuity applications.
Verizon Business executives say these two offerings show the promise of last year’s Verizon/MCI merger.
“This merger is a game-changing event,” said John Killian, president of Verizon Business, at a press conference held last week to launch Verizon Business, the carrier’s enterprise marketing arm. Killian said Verizon Business will be known for its “ability to provide seamless, global, end-to-end solutions to our customers. We will have integrated, reliable and secure assets and capabilities.”
The Enterprise Mobility Suite from Verizon Business includes several features, particularly broadband wireless access using technology known as EV-DO for Evolution-Data Optimized. Verizon offers EV-DO service in 181 U.S. metropolitan areas. This service provides high-speed access, with 400K-700Kbps downstream and 80K-100Kbps upstream.
Customers of the Enterprise Mobility Suite can take advantage of a new portal for managing remote access connectivity for their remote workers. This portal, known as Enterprise Services Management, allows network administrators to set desktop and network policy and generate reports.
“The portal has been revamped to make it more user friendly,” says Kevin Gatesman, senior manager of emerging technologies at Verizon Business. “We’ve also added a new managed personal firewall that includes some endpoint security. There are also some other new features related to desktop policy enforcement, which is one of our strong points.”
The Enterprise Mobility Suite is available immediately at the same price (starting at $19.95 per month) as MCI’s Remote Access Services. Verizon Wireless Access Service prices also remain the same, starting at $60 per month.
“This product is for medium to large enterprises that typically have 100 to 1,000 employees,” Gatesman says. “The biggest problem they have to solve is managing endpoint security. Often, they hand a laptop to a person and they might not see that person for a year. That laptop is dialing up. That laptop is in a coffee shop. Being able to secure that untethered asset is extremely important.”
Verizon Business will offer in February a new service that provides EV-DO wireless access for disaster recovery applications. Verizon Business is offering this service as an add-on to the IP VPN, private IP and private frame relay services previously offered by MCI.
“The focus here is to provide business continuity capabilities for our large enterprise customers that have a lot of remote sites,” Gatesman says. “This will provide a failover system when the terrestrial or landline network has been compromised. Wireless can offer last-mile diversity that you wouldn’t otherwise have.”
Neither MCI nor Verizon previously offered this capability.
Verizon Business executives are targeting the service at customers such as retail outlets that need to stay in business or get back up quickly after a natural disaster or other significant outage. This service takes advantage of Verizon’s expansive EV-DO network.
“It’s only recently that we’ve seen true broadband speeds in wireless, and Verizon is the leader in this,” Gatesman says. “This is great for data applications that aren’t latency sensitive such as e-mail and Web. VoIP or video conferencing would function, but not that well.”
Today, many enterprises use dial-up, ISDN or satellite for back-up purposes. Verizon Business officials haven’t announced the pricing for the new wireless back-up service, but they said it would be less expensive than the alternatives. Customers will pay a monthly subscription fee for the wireless back-up service along with usage-based fees.
To read more about the new offerings from Verizon Business click here.
