Negocios Now

www.negociosnow.com Marzo 2015 11 negociosnow negociosnow negociosnow negociosnow El Especial Comcast Business helps customers move faster By Tara García Mathewson I t's all about internet speed and wifi access. As businesses grow, they need higher internet speeds to manage growing business and technology needs and, increasingly, they want to be able to offer their customers wifi. Comcast Business offers some of the fastest internet speeds on the market and the largest wifi network. Just a few years ago, however, Com- cast didn't have a single wifi hotspot. Today it has 750,000 in Illinois and NW Indiana and 8 million in loca- tions across the country. Jay Dirkmaat, Greater Chicago Region vice president of Comcast Business, said continuing to add new hotspots will be a key goal for 2015. That, along with continuing to increase Internet speeds. Comcast Business customers tend to double their data usage every three years, according to Dirk- maat, and they need higher internet speeds to keep up. "More and more you see com- panies with their employees wor- king from home and on the go," Dirkmaat said. "The ability to access and exchange data and information both onsite and offsite and to and the ability leverage cloud appli- cations has become much more important and enables employees to work remotely." Comcast's scalable high-speed Internet servicegives companies a a path to the cloudIt along with other advance voice and video services can grow with businesses, fromstart-up phase through its customers' growth spurts, and help them compete with larger businesses. Comcast Business started out offering customers 22 megabits per second, or mbps. Now its high-speed internet runs as fast as 150 mbps. For customers connected with fiber optic cables, that speed can go all the way up to 10 gigabits per second — or 10,000 mbps. And every year, the company spends millions working to extend its network to more and more office parks and residential areas, where the company earned its reputation, Comcast Business' existing network already reaches more than 80 per- cent of the Chicago area market. If your office is in the Chicago area but isn't served by Comcast, chances are it won't be long before that's not true. The company has aggressive expansion planned and the faster it moves, the more capabi- lities it can offer its customers. When it comes to the Latino mar- ket, Dirkmaat said Comcast busi- ness customers are looking for the same things as their peers — fast internet speeds at reasonable pri- ces. But they encourage Comcast to go beyond serving just their offi- ces. Latino clients often want the company to demonstrate a strong partnership with the Latino com- munity more broadly. Dirkmaat said Comcast does this by backing the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and emphasizing its relationship with Telemundo, another member of the Comcast family. Overall, Dirkmaat said Comcast Business is a partner that can grow with its customers. "Flexibility is key, and maybe the operative word," Dirkmaat said. "As business needs change up and down and grow year to year, we can help them grow without breaking the bank." John Konstantaras/AP Images Cloud servers are used for centralized data storage and online access to computer services or resources for businesses. Photo John Konstantaras/AP Images A Comcast technician installs an Xfinity WiFi hotspot in Des Plaines, Illinois. Courtesy Jay Dirkmaat, Greater Chicago Region Vice President, Comcast Business

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