Wow! Wholesale may be an advocate of fiber-based services, but being a traditional cable operator it is now tapping into its HFC (hybrid fiber-coax) network to deliver an Ethernet over HFC service to customers in its network area.
A particular target for this service will be service provider customers that need to fulfill connections for multisite off-net business customers. It can also be used to fulfill branch, remote offices and even small to medium sized businesses within a metro area.
As an MPLS-based service, the EoHFC product offers carrier customers a range of symmetrical speeds of 3, 5 and 10 Mbps, and supports traditional Ethernet topologies such as Ethernet Line (E-Line) and Ethernet LAN (ELAN). It also provides interoperability with fiber‐based Ethernet access. Wow! has priced the EoHFC service as an nxT1 option, with service installation in 30 days or less upon order.
Bandwidth is only one part of the overall service. Service provider customers that purchase the EoHFC service will get NOC and service support via Wow! Wholesale's consultative approach.
Providing a HFC-based option to wholesale makes sense on various levels. For one, Wow! has a sizeable HFC network that spans multiple states it can easily tap into to serve its wholesale customer base. Second, the move mirrors similar product options it has been offering to its business customer base.
Over the past year, the service provider has been rolling out a 110 Mbps offering to SMBs in the Midwest and the Southeast, for example.
Although the HFC-based services is targeted at single site businesses, Brad Cheedle, senior vice president of WOW! Business, told FierceTelecom in a previous interview that it is "seeing multi-location opportunities" in such segments as "multi-location retail or food services companies where we have some bigger projects underway where they want lots of Internet connections."
For more:
- see the release
Related articles:
WOW! Business adds data center services to roster through ByteGrid pact
WOW! Business extends 110 Mbps SMB offering to four Southeast cities
WOW! Business buys conduit to bring fiber to additional 38 Chicago buildings
WOW! Business makes Maryland its next customer target
WOW! Business employs Alcatel-Lucent's 7750 router for IP network expansion