Cape Cod Community College Reaches for the Clouds with Comcast Business Ethernet

WEST BARNSTABLE, Mass., March 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast Business, a unit of Comcast Cable, the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to business and residential customers, today announced that Cape Cod Community College is using Comcast Ethernet services to save on technology expenses while also providing 500 Mbps of high-speed Internet access to faculty, staff and more than 4,000 students commuting from across Cape Cod, the Islands and the South Shore of Massachusetts. This new service from Comcast will also reduce the time required to back up the school's critical files to the cloud while additionally providing the bandwidth to support educational programs for local high school students and other community outreach.

As the only higher education institution on the Cape, Cape Cod Community College depends on high-speed Internet access to not only assist with administrative operations and classroom connectivity, but also to accommodate the increasing number of students who utilize their smartphones, tablets, and laptops while attending class or studying on campus. This rising demand led the college to begin looking for a way to replace its existing 30 Mbps legacy copper connection to improve Internet speeds and reliability.

With its high-capacity, fiber-based network, Comcast installed a 500 Mbps Ethernet Dedicated Internet (EDI) connection for a price comparable to what the college had been previously paying for its copper lines. This 16x boost in bandwidth opened up new IT options for Cape Cod Community College, such as migrating email and other applications to the cloud, while managing costs by not having to purchase, manage and maintain on-site application servers. Cape Cod Community College is also taking advantage of the cloud for data backup purposes, something that previously was accomplished via traditional tape back-ups that could take up to a week to retrieve from an offsite location.

"On our old 30 Mbps connection, our backup process alone would take days, so by the time we'd be finished, it was time to start the backup again. With Comcast, backing up two terabytes of critical files takes hours," said Greg Banwarth, Chief Information Officer for Cape Cod Community College. "Having this extremely fast and reliable Internet connection from Comcast allows us to look at how we operate in an entirely new way. We now have the ability to serve our students and the surrounding communities in ways that we never before thought possible, and we credit the fact that Comcast is so affordable and reliable as being a major reason for us being able to do this."

Cape Cod Community College also has plans to utilize the capacity of its 500 Mbps fiber network connection for a new Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), set to launch in late 2013 that will allow students from high schools as far away as Plymouth and Martha's Vineyard to access specific software through their Internet connection. Local students will potentially have the ability to access virtual computer labs and high-end software programs like AUTOCAD that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive, underscoring Cape Cod Community College's focus on expanding educational opportunities and community outreach. Additional plans for remote access for students, along with video conferencing capabilities for the Martha's Vineyard area, are also underway.

"Comcast has been firmly committed to Cape Cod for a number of years, and our continuing expansion and upgrade of our next-generation network to offer businesses, schools, healthcare organizations and other customers more value than legacy networks is a perfect testament to that," said Barry Bader, Enterprise Sales Director for the Greater Boston region of Comcast Business Services. "Today's higher education institutions need to reach a wide range of students, many with challenging schedules, and all while adhering to budgetary requirements. Using Ethernet can not only help improve on-campus learning and manage costs, but also transform the way in which these schools operate, making this a win-win situation for all."

About Comcast Business
Comcast Business, a unit of Comcast Cable, provides advanced communication solutions to help organizations of all sizes meet their business objectives. Through a modern, advanced network that is backed by 24/7 technical support, Comcast delivers Business Internet, TV and Voice services for cost-effective, simplified communications management.

The Comcast Business Ethernet suite offers high-performance point-to-point and multi-point Ethernet services with the capacity to deliver cloud computing, software-as-a-service, business continuity/disaster recovery and other bandwidth-intensive applications. Comcast Ethernet services are significantly faster than standard T1 lines and other legacy technologies, providing scalable bandwidth from 1 Mbps up to 10 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) in more than 20 major US markets.

For more information, call 866-429-3085 or visit http://business.comcast.com/enterprise. 

Follow us on Twitter @ComcastBusiness and on other social media networks at http://business.comcast.com/social.

About Comcast Cable
Comcast Cable is the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to businesses and residential customers. Comcast has invested in technology to build an advanced network that delivers among the fastest broadband speeds, and brings customers personalized video, communications and home management offerings. Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

SOURCE Comcast Cable