Integra Expands Cloud Services to Businesses

CEN Feature (Feb 7 2012) Business Ethernet , Cloud

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   Integra Telecom Inc. has launched a suite of collaboration & messaging services that will benefit customers that are looking to move some of their business into the cloud. The Portland-based Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) is offering the new services to businesses that are connected to its 11-state fiber network via any of its 1900 fiber-fed buildings and those connected via Ethernet over Copper (EoC).

   The hosted Microsoft Communication Services, include Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Outlook 2010, Microsoft Lync, Microsoft SharePoint and enhanced encryption, according to Richard Shimizu, director of product management for cloud and data center services for Integra. The new services are an addition to the cloud-based firewall service that Integra launched in September to help customers on the security side of their networks, he adds.

   One reason the CLEC chose to launch Microsoft Communication Services as its next cloud-based offering is that Integra’s sales people are familiar with the services as users themselves and they personally understand the benefits of what they are selling, says Shimizu. The new offering also gives small businesses that have not yet enjoyed the ease of communication and collaboration an opportunity to move up to the Gold Standard, he adds.

   Enterprise customers with more than 100 employees and their own IT staffs are likely already hosting Microsoft Communication Services themselves. However, many are at a point where they need to make upgrades and refresh their servers if they choose to continue hosting their own services, he says.

   “They are at a point now where they are making those buy vs. build decisions to reinvest in the platform or determine that this is standard enough for them to make this their first foray into the cloud,” says Shimizu. “Research that we have seen shows that e-mail is one entry level cloud service that they are going to look at and go from there.”

   Integra’s main interest in moving up the stack in cloud services is to drive more high-bandwidth applications across our network, says Shimizu. Carrier Ethernet and EoC provide Integra with a base level connection to customers. Tying customer locations into the network through both fiber-based or EoC connections is simple for customers, and cloud services add more value to those connections, he explains. Because they are on a shared network, both small and large customers with up to 10 G connections can take advantage of cloud services as well as Integra’s business-grade voice, Internet and private data networking services, he adds.

   In addition to its inclusiveness, the offering also enables customers to support an increasingly mobile workforce because it enables them to synchronize their smart phones with their Exchange e-mail, calendar and company directory. Because security is of the utmost importance for customers looking at using cloud-based services, Integra’s Fortune 50 infrastructure, SAS 70 Type II audited data centers are built with world-class hardware and have multiple connections to Tier-1 Internet providers. In addition to protecting their core operations, customers that move services onto the cloud are also shifting the cost of facilities and maintenance to Integra.

   “The Internet can be a dangerous place for companies, so having a strong security capability is important for them to get moving into the cloud.” says Shimizu. “They may say that’s why I want to host it myself, but they need to take a good honest look at how secure their network really is and how much of their precious IT resources they are committing to make their own location secure.”

   Integra believes this suite of products is a good first step for mid-sized to enterprise customers to move some of their applications into the cloud. Microsoft Communications Services is a very mature offering and by letting the CLEC handle it, their valuable people can focus their attentions on the applications that are going to differentiate their company, he adds.

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