Metro Ethernet for the SMB Crowd, Courtesy of MegaPath

The proliferation of cloud computing, software as a service, VoIP and video communications has been a boon for companies that can handle the load on their networks. But for smaller companies, such bandwidth-intensive applications just don’t – or can’t – work on their existing connections. Enter Metro Ethernet.

Once the purview of large enterprises willing to shell out the big bucks for great WAN connectivity, the technology is now seeing a revival through a host of service providers now offering the service at a more affordable price to the SMB crowd. MegaPath is one such provider, and has announced a new nationwide Ethernet service that provides SMBs with the quality of service, uptime and SLAs normally offered to larger customers.

At $259 per month, MegaPath’s Ethernet 2×2 service offers the lowest cost per megabit on the market, according the company. It provides 99.99 percent uptime backed by SLAs and dedicated access to fast symmetrical upload and download speeds, providing promised speeds. Additionally, voice services on Ethernet 2×2 are backed by QoS guarantees.

MegaPath noted the service is accessible to 90 percent of businesses nationwide, thanks to its extensive dedicated network that includes the assets of Speakeasy and Covad, which the company acquired in 2010. MegaPath also offers a whole host of managed IP data, voice and security services for companies of all sizes.

As more companies understand the value of new and emerging technologies such as video as a communications tool and working in the cloud, demand for hosted Ethernet will continue to rise. Managed service providers dealing in the convergence or cloud space may want to look at Ethernet connectivity as a complementary technology to add to their palette of services.

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