One of the real requirements for SME businesses today is that of Internet and e-mail connectivity. Increasingly, smaller organisations have exactly the same needs as larger enterprises - the difference is they usually can't afford the hardware and services to get it going.
Internet Solutions (IS), one of the country's leaders in connectivity, has enjoyed strong growth in the small to medium enterprise (SME) market since it launched its broadband business unit in 2005.
Designing products to meet the special needs of this sector, IS has signed up 7 500 customers on its uncapped Business DSL service, as well as 27 000 subscribers on the soft-capped ADSL service.
With the advent of affordable broadband offerings such as ADSL, IS recognised that it had an opportunity to expand beyond the corporate market by offering quality broadband services to small and medium sized businesses, says IS broadband manager Bruce Henderson. Broadband has allowed IS to offer SMEs a cost-effective alternative to pricey Diginet lines on the one hand and slow dial-up connectivity on the other.
The uncapped Business ADSL offering with static IP addresses brings unlimited, always-on bandwidth within the reach of many businesses for the first time, he says. "The solution is one of a kind in SA. It eliminates two of the biggest problems DSL has for business users: the cap and dynamic IP addressing.
SMEs can use this service for applications that need a fixed IP address, such as application servers," says Henderson. The service is winning over some medium-sized companies, which are willing to sacrifice some quality of service guarantees for a far cheaper solution.
"Why spend R10 000 per month on Diginet when you can get a 512Kbit/s ADSL line for a fifth of the price?" asks Henderson. IS is also signing up new subscribers to its capped ADSL service at a rapid rate.
This product has a soft cap that allows companies to continue using local bandwidth after they've exhausted their international bandwidth allocation for the month. Most service providers shut down local and international access for ADSL users who have hit their cap for the month. IS has differentiated itself in the SME ADSL market by offering a range of valued-added services along with basic connectivity.
For example, SMEs buy a secure DSL solution bundled with a full router, firewall, gateway anti-virus, Web filtering, anti-spam and intrusion prevention scanning for under R2 000/month, says Henderson. Smaller businesses can also set up cost-effective yet secure and reliable virtual private networks to link up branches, using the IS Broadband VPN service.
IS also resells wireless broadband connectivity from iBurst and Sentech. iBurst is enjoying robust growth because it can be deployed in 48 hours, says Henderson. Many companies are also using iBurst as a back-up redundancy option to their ADSL line.
IS operates in the SME market through a channel of virtual service providers who have established relationships with SME customers and can sell IS services as part of a complete solution that includes local-area networking infrastructure, Web design and technical support.
For more information, go to www.is.co.za, call 011 575 1000, or speak to your local reseller.
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