Comcast Business Services is connecting 1,000 Polartec employees around the world on an existing virtual private network (VPN) through an Ethernet connection.
Polartec is a high-tech fabrics manufacturer that makes performance fabrics that are used by outdoor enthusiasts, athletes and in workwear applications. With employees and office locations around the world, Polartec used a VPN to keep track of company-related systems and data while also tracking inbound and outbound orders with its partners.
Polartec’s previous IT infrastructure, which used T1 lines, was being overwhelmed by the bandwidth demands, which eventually led to Comcast installing an Ethernet Dedicated Internet (EDI) connection that serves all of the company’s employees, partners and sales teams.
“There are hundreds of moving parts that need to come together on a daily basis to ensure the continued success of our organization, so as our network traffic increased and our Internet connection was unable to keep up, we knew that we needed to make a change,” said Stephan Pifalo, network and telecommunications analyst at Polartec.
The Ethernet connection is saving Polartec more than $1,000 over the previous solution, and it also gives the company the flexibility to add bandwidth as needed.
“There are plenty of things that companies need to worry about on a daily basis – but the speed of their Internet service should not be one of them,” said Peter Marsh, Greater Boston region vice president for Comcast Business Services. “As today’s workforce becomes increasingly mobile, more and more companies are expanding their global operations and are realizing that working with a provider that offers scalable and reliable connectivity is one of the best business decisions they can make.”
Comcast launched its Ethernet portfolio last year and has been racking up customer wins ever since. In its second-quarter earnings report last month, Comcast’s business services revenue increased 34 percent to $582 million.
At an investor conference in New York earlier this week, Comcast chief financial officer Michael Angelakis said that the business services sector represented an addressable market of $20 billion to $30 billion over time.
