Comcast Business

Executive Summary

Comcast Business, a division of parent company Comcast, offering Internet, Ethernet, voice, and cable television to local businesses, recently leveraged direct access to a localized AWS Direct Connect cloud on-ramp within an EdgeConneX Edge Data Center to modernize their end customer’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The implemented solution greatly improved their end customer’s network performance, reduced latency vs. using the public Internet, and most importantly, it resulted in a reduced net operating cost. Comcast Business ultimately became this customer’s trusted advisor for network services, leading to a 10X increase in monthly revenue for this customer account.

About Comcast Business

As a local network provider, Comcast Business has an extensive metro transport footprint and can offer a wide variety of solution packages to their enterprise customers in the regions in which they serve. Competition from other local carrier solutions is often fierce, so any new tools that can be used to accelerate metro Ethernet sales is welcomed. Availability of the AWS Direct Connect on- ramp in the EdgeConneX Edge Data Center became just the tool that was needed to drive new incremental revenue growth.

End Customer Challenge

One of Comcast Business’ enterprise customers, a local building supply company, was searching for a new IT solution to upgrade and modernize their ERP system. Keeping all functions on-prem would require a full rebuild of their existing data center, ultimately leading to a large capital cost burden on the company and an ongoing expense to scale over time. This option was certainly not ideal, so other alternatives were explored. Incorporating public cloud solutions available through AWS were the best fit, but accessing those AWS products and services via their existing public internet was slow and did not meet the network latency thresholds needed to accommodate their new desired architecture. Ongoing operating costs were also a concern, so enabling a scalable, cost effective solution would need to be a key part in any future solution.

Why AWS Direct Connect?

The Comcast Business team knew they could solve the AWS connectivity challenges by incorporating the local AWS Direct Connect cloud on-ramp into their overall network design for their end customer. By leveraging the local cloud on-ramp in the EdgeConneX Edge Data Center, the enterprise customer was able to take advantage of the key benefits of direct cloud connectivity offered by AWS Direct Connect, including improved network performance, increased security vs. public internet, and an overall reduction in cloud access costs, all while incorporating other key benefits from the various products and services offered on the AWS cloud platform.

Why Leverage Localized On-Ramps with EdgeConneX and Comcast Business?

EdgeConneX works closely with all our network partners to help ensure the benefits of localized cloud access solutions are well understood and can be easily incorporated into their end-to-end product bundles. EdgeConneX has teamed with industry leading Software Defined Networking (SDN) providers like Megaport and PacketFabric to further simplify connectivity options into the AWS cloud for our customers like Comcast Business. Our interconnection solutions address a variety of connectivity needs, from physical cross connects all the way to virtual connection options for on-demand networking needs.

End customers benefit by using Comcast Business as a network provider given their extensive metro network footprint, which is often diverse from other carrier options. This coverage uniquely positions them to address most all transport and IP requirements, along with incorporating localized cloud access hand-offs to AWS Direct Connect with partners like EdgeConneX. Most all local enterprise customers connected to their network are a simple transport connection away from gaining direct, private access to the AWS cloud using AWS Direct Connect. Both Comcast Business and EdgeConneX are certified technology partners of AWS through the Amazon Partner Network and can work directly with local customers to help solve access problems to the cloud.

Customer Challenge Solved Using AWS Direct Connect

The Comcast Business team worked directly with the building supply company’s IT resources to plan and execute a networking connectivity strategy that addressed all their concerns of incorporating a public cloud component to their new ERP system architecture. By connecting directly to the AWS Cloud using the local AWS Direct Connect solution offered by Comcast Business and EdgeConneX, the building supply company was able to achieve consistent network performance to the AWS cloud, reduce latency by over 50%, and also take advantage of the pricing benefits for data egress fees when using AWS Direct Connect verses accessing those same services through the public Internet.

Results for Comcast Business

Comcast Business started with an existing end customer account billing for a single Ethernet transport service. By leveraging their local cloud access solution using AWS Direct Connect and EdgeConneX, they soon grew that account by adding two additional Ethernet access sites and increasing services to the company headquarters, resulting in a 4X increase to their monthly revenue. Further realizing the value of direct AWS connectivity, seven more sites were soon added, ultimately producing a 10X increase in monthly revenue for this account.