Cogeco Data Services has added three new managed services offerings to its portfolio aimed at medium to large businesses.
The new Managed IP VPN (virtual private network) service allows customers to connect with multiple locations over a secure network, while the Managed Ethernet service allows customers to control the specific routing of their network with reports from Cogeco on any problems with the network.
“We monitor their network connections,” says Virginia Brailey, the company’s vice president of marketing. “We will proactively notify them if there’s any challenges,” she says.
Cogeco’s new voice services use Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) trunking and can integrate with customers’ current IP PBX systems or their TDM PBX systems with the scalability to change over to IP later.
The new voice services are compatible with both the Managed IP VPN and Managed Ethernet service. “Our service is perfect in terms of being future-ready,” she says.
“Cogeco entering into this is not a surprise,” as the demand for managed services grows, says Stuart Crawford, president and chief marketing officer with Calgary-based Ulistic Inc., a marketing and consulting firm for managed service providers. The new offerings will make things easier for IT providers and end-users.
“Reliable Internet is a must,” Crawford says, so having Cogeco monitor potential problems before the customer is even aware of them will be beneficial. “It takes the stress away,” Crawford says.
The new services are designed to be flexible to each organization’s needs, Brailey says. In its own survey, Cogeco found that IT professionals valued efficiency and simplicity as major priorities, she says. “We’re not going to force you to go one way or another,” she says. “It doesn’t matter to us what the organization picks.”
“What we do is we take away the complexity of managing their network connections,” Brailey says. “It allows them to focus on their core business,” she says.