Comcast Business is providing enterprise customers private links to the Microsoft Cloud, strengthening its bond further with business customers that are transitioning to cloud-based services.
Under the terms of the agreement with Microsoft, Comcast Business will provide links to all of Microsoft’s popular cloud applications, including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Office 365, and Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Unlike the unpredictability of the open internet, what’s compelling about providing businesses private cloud connectivity is that Comcast Business offers greater performance, security and availability that are backed by a service level agreement.
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Scale is a big part of the agreement with Microsoft. By joining the Microsoft ExpressRoute partner program, Comcast Business is making the Azure ExpressRoute service available to its over 1 million Ethernet-enabled buildings nationwide.
Over 80% of Fortune 500 companies use Microsoft Cloud, and more than 120,000 new businesses are joining Azure every month. Additionally, Microsoft indicates that one in four of its enterprise customers are using Office 365.
A recent Synergy Research Group report revealed that Microsoft is one of the top four cloud players along with Amazon, IBM and Google. The research firm said that these four players “control well over half of the worldwide market and all continue to grow their market share.”
Providing connections to Microsoft makes sense for Comcast Business, particularly as it looks to appeal to larger business customers. While small to medium businesses still make up 60% of Comcast Business’ growth, it continues to win more medium and large business customers.
Neil Smit, CEO of Comcast Cable, told investors during its third-quarter earnings call that it is “seeing healthy growth from mid-sized businesses and we’re getting a number of enterprise deals.”
Comcast Business won a service deal with a large financial company that has about 2,000 locations, a large healthcare provider with 1,000 locations and a retail provider with 2,000 locations, for example.