Cox Business will enter SD-WAN arena with RapidScale buy

Cox Business strengthened its managed services hand with its purchase of hybrid cloud service provider RapidScale.

RapidScale's managed cloud offerings were designed for businesses of all sizes and include solutions such as SD-WAN, backup, recovery, security, mail services and desktop services.

"Cox Business will work quickly this year to enable our sales teams to introduce the RapidScale portfolio of solutions to our customer base," said Cox Business' Steve Rowley, executive vice president of sales, in an email to FierceTelecom. "We believe that combining Cox Business’ strength in connectivity and transport with RapidScale’s cloud-based IT solutions create a unique solution from a single provider for small to mid-size businesses."

In April, RapidScale partnered with Citrix to offer a standalone managed SD-WAN service, which is called Citrix NetScaler SD-WAN. In addition to selling the service to its customers, RapidScale made NetScaler available for resale through its network of independent agents.

With RapidScale, Cox will join Comcast as the only large U.S. cable operators in the U.S. to offer SD-WAN services.

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"Cox Business believes that SD-WAN is an important addition to our product portfolio and we continue to see significant customer demand," Rowley said. "We look forward to launching an SD-WAN solution in the near future."

With RapidScale, Cox Business has improved its cloud platform while adding value to its customer base by reducing IT expenditures and improving productivity.

The Irvine, California-based RapidScale was founded in 2008 and has 76 employees. RapidScale's customers include multiple system operators, value-added resellers, master agents, managed service providers and carriers throughout the United States. Its customer list includes Masergy Communications and Telecom Brokers.

RapidScale delivers its software-as-a-service applications through a global cloud platform that is comprised of data centers in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Sterling, Virginia, Dallas and Irvine, Texas.

"We’re projected to have three new data centers in the Midwest, West and Southeast as well as other international locations in 2018 based upon rapidly growing demand," Rowley said.

Cox Business was an early pioneer in the cable business services space by first offering services in 1993. Since then, Cox Business has grown its run rate to more than $2 billion in annual revenue.

RapidScale is the latest example of Cox Business' strategy to provide services and applications across verticals such as financial markets, government, hospitality and healthcare. The Cox Business portfolio has been strengthened beyond core business telecom offers with several recent strategic investments, acquisitions and new capabilities including Blueprint RF, Unite Private Networks, Trapollo, Hospitality Network and Cox Security Solutions.

Cox Business is a division of Cox Communications, which is privately held. Financial terms of the RapidScale purchase were not disclosed.