Making an entrance into the medium-size commercial business division, Comcast (News - Alert) has rolled out metro Ethernet services to more than 20 markets across the U.S.

While the major cable operator has long been targeting its commercial services to small businesses typically under 20 employees, it will now bring metro Ethernet connections at up to 10-Gigabit speed to organizations consisting of up to 500 employees.

According to CEDMagazine.com, the following 20 major U.S. markets in metropolitan areas will be receiving four metro Ethernet-based services over Comcast’s fiber-optic and IP network: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Harrisburg, Pa., Hartford, Conn., Houston; Indianapolis; Jacksonville, Fla.; Miami; Nashville; New Jersey state, Oakland, Pa.; Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Pa.; Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City; San Francisco; San Jose; Seattle; Washington, D.C., and western New England.

Comcast also plans to introduce metro Ethernet services to additional markets in the future.

The new, cost-effective implementation in these metropolitan areas will guarantee scalable and flexible bandwidth for cloud computing, business continuity, software-as-service, and business process automation.

“Our fiber-rich network powers our metro Ethernet services and provides a secure, reliable and cost-effective solution for mid-size businesses’ data needs,” said Bill Stemper, president of Comcast Business Services. “Metro Ethernet is quickly overtaking T1 and other legacy services as the preferred technology for business communications. Just as broadband supplanted dial-up in consumers’ homes, our new metro Ethernet services are designed to help businesses compete and win using our fast and scalable digital platform.”

Comcast will offer Ethernet Private Line Service, Ethernet Virtual Private Line Service, Ethernet Network Service and Ethernet Dedicated Internet Access Service to customers. The company hopes that with the introduction of these services, medium-size customers will eventually steer away from telecom providers and additional competitors.

“I think our last mile is an incredible, unique asset, and the more ways that we can come up with to take advantage of that to meet the needs of small- and medium-size businesses, the better off we’ll be,” said Kevin O’Toole, senior vice president of product management and strategy for Comcast Business Services. “That is where you’ll see us continue to focus a lot of energy.”

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Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet web editor. She covers a wide range of topics, including IP communications and information technology. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell