John Paitaridis (Optus Business)
Optus Business has expanded its partnership with Cisco Meraki to start offering customers the vendor’s full stack of managed cloud networking services.
The telco had been offering Wi-Fi networks based on Meraki’s technology since 2017, but will now deliver its cloud management system to Australian enterprises alongside a 24/7 support service.
According to Optus, customers will now receive proactive managed services, rapid provisioning, enhanced reliability and security, in addition to customer reporting and analytics.
Customer service will be delivered from Optus Business Technical Assistance Center (OBTAC).
“As businesses look to realise the benefits of cloud-based networking, we’re delighted to now offer customers access to the full Cisco Meraki technology stack with a managed cloud networking service,” Optus Business managing director John Paitaridis said.
The expanded offering will now allow Australian businesses to set network security and performance policies by application and deploy devices in remote locations.
In addition, Optus has also integrated Meraki technology with its long-term evolution (LTE) capability, meaning the telco can offer a wireless wide-area network (WAN) back-up service integrated with its mobile network.
To improve customer experience, Meraki’s dashboard has been integrated with Optus’ advanced network management platform.
Optus said it now has more than 60 Meraki accredited staff on its team to support the expanded service.
“This is a natural extension of our Optus-Cisco partnership and truly provides businesses with operational improvements from day one of deployment,” said Cisco Australia vice president Ken Boal said. “We are bringing enterprises the range of benefits of managed cloud networking such as scaling up its network provisioning quickly and simply.”
Revealed during Cisco Live in Melbourne, the news follows Optus’ announcement that it will start offering Cisco’s BroadCloud platform as a full cloud-based calling solution.
