SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 29, 2014 – Cisco today announced that its Evolved Services Platform (ESP),  industry's most comprehensive virtualization and orchestration software platform that creates, automates and provisions services in real time across compute, storage and network functions, enables service providers to deliver two new virtualized and automated managed business services targeted to the small medium business market: Cloud VPN and Security.  The SMB market segment has great upside potential within the fast-growing managed network and communication services market, which is expected to grow to $62 billion dollars by 2018. (sources: MarketsandMarkets, U.S. Census, Cisco Analysis)

Today, SMBs are looking for highly secure and scalable services– complete with instantaneous ramp-up, flexibility and personalization capabilities at a much lower cost than traditional enterprises. However, for Service Providers, the high cost of customer acquisition, manual network provisioning and management, and ongoing customer support needed for SMBs have made it far too challenging to offer such services to that market profitability. 

Now, with Cisco's new virtualized managed service solutions, Service Providers are now better able to pursue these opportunities.   Leveraging Software Defined Networking (SDN), innovative Network Function Virtualization (NFV), multi-vendor orchestration and provisioning technologies, these solutions can enable service providers to save up to 78% in operational costs, deliver a 200% return on investment over 5 years and decrease new managed service start-up time from months to less than 48 hours compared to past approaches.

Additional cloud-centric news was also announced today by Cisco and a wide range of partners driving the momentum around Intercloud, enabling even more flexibility to service providers in the delivery of virtualized managed service offers.   

Business Outcomes and Technology Highlights:

• Cloud VPN Service Solution: Enables services providers to deliver optimal user experiences, cloud security and simplified operations; offers the most comprehensive solution in the industry, enabling services providers to help SMBs scale their services worldwide and on-demand; delivers direct secure and scalable Internet access from the branch, site-to-site as well as remote access VPN; provides advanced VPN Features like Cloud Managed Auto VPN, Application Firewall, WAN Optimization, Application Control, and Content Filtering.
• Security Solution: Provides nonstop, real-time monitoring to prevent attacks, malware, worms and Internet-based attacks targeting critical business assets; supports consistent, effective event management with advanced monitoring, identification, alerts and issue mitigation; accesses and applies the latest security information, knowledge and expertise for business customers.
• New Cisco Innovations that enable these solutions include:
  • Multi-Vendor Network Service Orchestration including Tail-F technology
  • Cloud Management from Meraki
  • And the industry's most extensive catalog of over 40 virtual network functions, including the virtual Adaptive Security Appliance and virtual Wide Area Application Services

Industry Validation:

• "As a leading provider of managed security, voice, data, and cloud services in North America, MegaPath leverages its technology investments to help businesses of all sizes lower costs, increase security and enhance productivity. MegaPath selected Cisco as a technology platform for its managed services because the cloud-managed network solution gives us a competitive edge and its operational enhancements really fit our business model."  David Williams, President, Managed Services, MegaPath.
• "Our collaboration with Cisco allows us to be one of the first cable operators in the United States to offer comprehensive, world-class managed security services to enterprises and our key vertical market's in education, government, and healthcare. Working with Cisco, we've already been able to quickly bring new security services to specific customers in the education vertical, while maximizing previous investment in our robust network." Craig Cowden, Chief Network Officer and SVP, Enterprise Solutions, Bright House Networks.     
• "With most emerging technologies, service providers and vendors typically focus first on cost savings opportunities.  SDN and NFV are no different.  At the same time, there's a reason why the notion that ‘you can't save your way to growth' is a well-worn cliché.  To this end, Cisco's moves to enable operators to drive additional top-line revenue through deployment of managed services to new markets like the SMB segment are encouraging." Peter Jarich, vice president, Current Analysis
• "Forward-thinking service providers are the enablers of the Internet of Everything (IoE), delivering innovative capabilities to new market segments," said Kelly Ahuja, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco Service Provider segment. "Cisco Virtualized Managed Business Services accelerate the delivery of cutting-edge business services to SMBs and offer cloud-based remotely managed services for WAN connectivity, security and other advanced technologies. By leveraging Cisco technologies and our advanced Remote Management Services, service providers can now efficiently deliver the service capabilities SMBs desire while addressing a sizable untapped market opportunity to help grow their business."

Supporting Resources

• ACG Research Blog: The Case for Virtual Managed Services Whitepaper
• Service Provider SP 360 Blog: "Cisco and Service Providers - Transformation for the Internet of Everything," Kelly Ahuja, SVP and GM, Service Provider, Cisco
• Cisco Service Provider business
• Follow us on our LinkedIn page for targeted updates and announcements
• For more information about Cisco's service provider news and activities visit the SP360 Blog or follow us on Twitter @CiscoSPMobility
• Cisco Service Provider SlideShare presentations
• Subscribe to Cisco's SP360 feed

Tags/Keywords

Cisco, Cisco Evolved Services Platform, Cisco ESP, Unified Platform, virtualized, network function virtualization, NFV, software-defined networking, SDN, software, hardware

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