For over a decade, the name ABi (American Broadband, Inc.) has most likely meant something to you, particularly if you are in the broadband space as the company quickly emerged as a one-stop-shop to address all broadband needs. Almost a year later, the company name might be different in that ABi has become United Network Services Inc. (UNSi) but the mission is still the same – even enhanced – as UNSi is now hanging its hat on being a provider of carrier and managed services.
“UNSi is about providing connectivity and managed services for enterprises with multiple locations globally and that’s done in the most cost effective and flexible way because our network is a cutting-edge modern network as opposed to legacy,” Allan Schwartz (News - Alert), senior vice president of strategic planning and business development, told TMCnet. “We can adapt to the ever changing needs of the IT area and their needs.”
Founded in 2001 as ABi, UNSi over the last 11 years has emerged as a company with the largest broadband footprint in North America with the ability to reach some of the most remote locations, and has also become one of the fastest growing independent carrier and managed services providers. Aside from its managed solutions including Managed LAN, Managed Router, Managed Firewall, Billing Integration Services, Hosted Monitoring and Managed Co-Location services the company touts itself for its extensive Ethernet and MPLS solutions with an impressive global reach and end-to-end SLAs.
Being able to provide a nationwide MPLS network was largely possible after UNSi acquired IPNetZone Communications, Inc., a nationwide next generation network provider, earlier this year – a move which allowed UNSi to acquire a MPLS nationwide network.
“This was part of our growth strategy,” Schwartz said. “We were the first to come out with the MPLS exchange platform, which allows us to deliver the most cost effective access solutions per site but yet tie it back all together. It’s about creating that fabric infrastructure – that private network for the customer.”
UNSi’s MPLS network stands out amongst the competition largely because of its ability to deliver a product almost anywhere thanks to the company’s 2,000 MSAs. Some of the other chief advantages include: lower total cost of ownership through consolidating data, voice and video networks through managed services; being able to maintain the level of security and QoS/CoS of ATM and frame relay; ensuring scalability, flexibility and efficiency of IP networks; and enjoying robust disaster recovery solutions.
“We have an extensive MPLS and broadband reach, and since we are not a large corporate company we are known for our customer service,” Schwartz said. “We deliver on quality and are known for having more of a boutique-like customer care.”
While UNSi has taken great strides over the last decade, the company is showing no signs of slowing down as most recently UNSi announced a new channel program to support growth of its extensive carrier Ethernet, MPLS, VPLS and broadband aggregation capabilities. The new channel program is part of the company’s growth strategy and supports its recent acquisition of IPNetZone Communications.
Thanks to the Channel Partner Program (CPP), partners are granted different opportunities to resell UNSi’s expansive and flexible set of services and take advantage of its cost database that includes over 2,000 providers, its global reach and consolidated billing services. Partners will benefit from the program since UNSi allows for the integration and aggregation of multiple carrier platforms giving resellers/partners the best cost and reach options, official said.
Looking forward, UNSi is setting its sights on brining in specific partners to the program and adding additional carrier to its networks.
“We are growing organically so we are investing in our own technology and are looking to expand by acquiring complementary services,” Schwartz said. “We are always staying at the forefront of the technology and in the MPLS space especially.”
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Edited by Jamie Epstein