Spectrum Enterprise Deepens Cisco Meraki Partnership in Services Update

Spectrum Enterprise has updated its Cisco-powered managed network edge (MNE) services portfolio to better accommodate remote workers and public cloud users.

The update gives MNE new remote access, teleworker and virtual edge features. Moreover, Spectrum has become one of the first network providers to integrate the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client into a managed Cisco Meraki solution.

The AnyConnect Mobility Client gives the customer an encrypted tunnel that provides firewall and unified threat management protection for internet traffic.

In addition, Spectrum launched a hardware gateway that connects remote users’ devices to the MNE network. This device is the Cisco Meraki Z3 SD-WAN teleworker gateway.

Source: Cisco Meraki

The third update lets users access public cloud instances from AWS, Azure and Google Cloud through SD-WAN. The “virtual edge” feature provides provide traffic prioritization and application-aware routing.

Spectrum Enterprise’s Michelle Kadlacek

“We’re still in a hybrid work environment that’s going to continue. And these three enhancements to our managed network edge products will better enable our partners to modernize their clients’ networks,” Michelle Kadlacek, vice president of the Spectrum Enterprise partner program, told Channel Futures.

Spectrum’s Bob Schroeder

Spectrum launched the MNE portfolio a year ago. The service focuses on LAN and WAN implementation and management.

“The Spectrum Enterprise Managed Network Edge enhancements expand our managed offerings to include managing end users who connect to public clouds, private clouds or the corporate wide area network,” said Bob Schroeder, vice president, enterprise data product management, Spectrum Enterprise.

Spectrum Enterprise is part of Charter Communications.

Spectrum and Cisco

Cisco teams with Spectrum to offer MNE. Specifically, Spectrum has built the offering on Cisco Meraki. The relationship between the two companies is growing. Spectrum last summer launched a unified communications service based on Cisco Webex.

Lawrence Huang, vice president of product management at Cisco Meraki, said the MNE offering is evolving to improve its security and network management features.

Cisco Meraki’s Lawrence Huang

“In order to provide productive, hybrid workforce experiences, organizations require a secure network with the flexibility to adapt to constant change,” Huang said.

Read about how Charter and its peers performed in their latest quarterly earnings.