Linksys, MCI team to target small biz

Cisco Systems subsidiary Linksys today unveiled an IP-based services platform for voice, data and video that specifically targets service providers, value-added resellers and their small business customers.

Linksys One is designed as an all-in-one service, including security, monitoring and management, for Voice over IP, business data services and Internet access, to be hosted by service providers and sold and installed by VARs to businesses with 100 or fewer employees. LinkSys One provides the CPE, including a services router, IP phones and an analog voice gateway, integrated into a service provider’s IP network.

MCI Communications announced this morning that it has teamed up with Linksys to offer Linksys One.

The Linksys One approach eliminates technical complexity and overhead costs for small businesses by allowing them to combine services onto a single connection, thus streamlining their communications, and replacing multiple voice, fax and data lines with a single managed solution, said Phil Meeks, senior vice president of MCI Strategic Ventures and Alliances, in a prepared statement. Small business customers only have to decide how many phone numbers they want and how many employees are being served.

“MCI and Linksys are working together to create innovative IP solutions that specifically address the evolving demands of small businesses,” said Phil Meeks, senior vice president of MCI Strategic Ventures and Alliances. “Linksys One builds on the MCI Cisco strategic relationship to deliver the plug-and-play solution small businesses have been waiting for to take full advantage of IP communications.”

Because it is a managed service, the Linksys One option gives small business customers access to business continuity service, enabling them to move operations quickly, much as larger businesses can today. MCI is deploying Cisco Service Nodes, which act as the network aggregation point for the Linksys One CPE.

MCI, which becomes part of Verizon either late in 2005 or early in 2006, is establishing a new VAR channel to sell the service, the two companies said. MCI will provide technical support, as well as training and marketing for its VARs. It is expected to begin offering the service on a trial basis in early 2006.

Linksys is also deploying the service in the U.S. with two regional carriers – wireless broadband proavider airBand Communications and NeoNova Network Services, a global wholesale provider of IP-based managed services. In Australia, IP Systems Pty LTd is a Linksys One customer.