Pacific Internet expands service range

Pacific Internet has moved into managed services, announcing the launch of two new products and signing Channelworx as a new distributor.

“They’re a fantastic distributor,” Pacific Internet product manager, Kylie Hutchison, said.

“They’ve been very helpful, and we’ve had a lot of interest,” she said.

The company had not previously dealt with Channelworx as it hadn't had a product that complemented its range before, Hutchsion said.

The products were introduced in response to demand from small to medium businesses looking to cost effectively manage the security and upkeep of their network, he said.

Pacific Internet’s January 2004 broadband barometer showed that the areas of greatest concern to small businesses were computer viruses (60 per cent), security of data and financial transactions (43 per cent), and ISP performance and reliability (41 per cent), she said.

“The move into managed services is part of Pacific Internet’s strategy to provide more that just connectivity to business customers,” she said.

Pacific plans to continue its move into the solutions services market. The next step will be an integrated shared firewall, which Hutchison sees as another way for customers to save costs.

“We’re definitely looking at more security products,” she said. “As security concerns increase, it becomes something that your customers require.”

The new products include the Managed Firewall VPN, a hardware-based managed security product that is designed to protect a business’s networks from intruders and viruses. It can also act as a virtual private network (VPN) to securely connect remote offices and teleworkers.

The product is remotely managed and maintained by Pacific. The company also ensures that the hardware receives the latest firmware and software upgrades, and provides monthly reports on the security delivered to the network.

“A managed security system has a much greater chance of being effective than an incorrectly configured firewall that’s not updated regularly,” Hutchison said.

The other new offering, 24/7 Monitoring, is designed for single and multi-site businesses and gives instant notification when systems go down and resume.

“24/7 Monitoring means businesses can quickly respond to emergencies, even if they’re off site,” Hutchison said. “This results in reduced downtime. The service provides real-time monitoring of business connections and mission critical services.”

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