Comcast Business Deepens Managed SD-WAN Portfolio with Cisco

Comcast Business is teaming with Cisco to give partners another managed SD-WAN service to sell.

The newly expanded strategic partnership pairs Cisco’s Viptela SD-WAN solution with Comcast network management.

Comcast’s Craig Schlagbaum

Craig Schlagbaum, Comcast Business senior vice president and channel chief, said the offering runs through Comcast’s managed enterprise solutions (MES) team, which sells to Comcast’s largest accounts. The MES group does teamed selling with channel partners on a per customer basis. Together they recently won a large deal with a partner, Schlagbaum said.

“A partner identifies a relationship. We then engage with the sales organization and MES, which we’re very close with. Then we agree to team together… and then we work together with the client to win the opportunity,” Schlagbaum told Channel Futures in an interview.

Amit Verma, vice president of solutions engineering and technology for Comcast Business, said the expanded Cisco partnership gives enterprise customers a broader portfolio of secure network solutions.

Comcast Business’ Amit Verma

“Our open, vendor-agnostic strategy combined with our access to affordable, reliable broadband technology, allows us to craft a solution that leverages the right mix of access technologies to help enterprises meet their objectives and simplify network management operations,” Verma said.

SD-WAN Portfolio

The new offering joins a variety of Comcast SD-WAN offerings. Comcast’s ActiveCore software-defined networking platform includes Versa Networks-powered SD-WAN. Comcast also has added SD-WAN offerings through its acquisition of Masergy.

Schlagbaum said the Viptela service functions as a bespoke offering that fits the customized needs of enterprise customers. The Fortinet-powered Masergy offering allows businesses in the middle-to-high-end of the midmarket to leverage a private MPLS network and scale globally using various points-of-presence. In addition, the ActiveCore platform targets customers the lower end of the midmarket with a cost-effective, multi-location solution, Schlagbaum said.

“We address every one of those market spaces that are out there today. And we can say to the channel, ‘We want to be the place where you always bring your secure networking solutions,'” Schlagbaum said.

Moreover, Masergy this week unveiled a managed SD-WAN based offering in partnership with Fortinet and Ingram Micro for resellers. Schlagbaum said the deal caters to VARs and MSPs that want to deliver managed SD-WAN in a resale model but don’t have all the resources required to deliver it on their own. Schlagbaum said Comcast has already built a strong foundation with the agent community that prefers a commission-based model. However, he said the reseller community needed a different approach.

“It’s an ideal match for partners that don’t want to run their own SOC and don’t have that scale capability,” he said. “They can just use us and make sufficient margin if they bill it on their own paper.”

Channel Messaging

Schlagbaum said his team is embarking on a road show across the country to speak to partners about Comcast Business’ strategy. Members of the MES team will be on hand at these events.

One of the things he’ll share is the success Comcast is seeing both in SD-WAN as well as in teamed selling. Schlagbaum said a channel partner recently teamed with direct to close one of Comcast Business’ largest networking solution deals ever.

“Bring all your opportunities to us whether, they’re large enterprise clients or smaller, more scalable locations. You can trust us to work together with you and help you win together,” he said.

Background

The partnership represents an expansion of Comcast and Cisco’s relationship. Comcast’s teleworker solution features Cisco Meraki.

Cisco’s JL Valente

“As businesses evolve their hybrid work models, IT leaders are being asked to extend the enterprise network to employees anywhere and ensure delivery of consistent application experiences to any location,” said JL Valente, Cisco’s vice president of product management for enterprise routing and SD-WAN. “Working with Comcast Business to offer advanced managed SD-WAN services based on Cisco technology demonstrates our continued commitment to help customers simplify their goal of providing secure access and the best user experience when connecting to cloud applications.”