Success Story

FastWeb Service Provider Uses Cisco Solutions to Deliver Integrated Voice and Data Connectivity to Small Business Customers in

“Cisco CallManager Express is the perfect solution to allow us to deliver an outsourced service to customers that provides the benefits of integrated voice and data.”— Guido Roda, Network Service Engineering Director, FastWeb

Introduction The Challenge

Broadband service provider FastWeb is Small businesses such as travel agencies, using the Cisco CallManager Express retailers, lawyers, and small industries solution to provide a cost-effective, represent an increasingly important portion converged voice and data solution to its of FastWeb’s revenue. These customers growing population of small-business recognize that IP communications offer customers. an effective way to improve relationships among employees and with customers, as Background well as improve productivity. FastWeb’s Headquartered in Milan, Italy, FastWeb is a small-business customers need affordable leading broadband service provider that access to the most commonly used offers voice, video, and data services to telephony features, along with data business and residential customers in the network solutions that can support metropolitan areas of major Italian cities. Internet business applications. The company started operation in the To service this rapidly growing market spring of 2000, and has grown rapidly to segment, FastWeb needed a cost-effective, serve approximately 175,000 subscribers in easy-to-manage solution that provided data Italian cities such as Milan, Bologna, communication, Internet access, and Genoa, Naples, Rome, and Turin. telephony services in a single, integrated Integral to the company’s success is its use managed service. of existing fiber-optic lines to deliver bundled services via a single IP network. The Solution This approach has helped FastWeb to After evaluating a variety of platforms, reach the market first with a unique FastWeb selected the Cisco CallManager offering—combined carrier-class voice, Express solution that runs on Cisco access video, and data services at 20 times the routers. Developed specifically for small speed of competing digital subscriber line and medium-sized businesses, it enables (DSL) technologies, with an affordable service providers to offer a set of the most price for both the residential and commonly used telephony features at each business markets.

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customer location over an integrated IP infrastructure. The Cisco CallManager Express solution is supported across a wide range of Cisco routers, supports a full portfolio of IP phones, and delivers the flexibility to support any small-business need. “Cisco [CallManager Express] is the perfect solution to allow us to deliver an outsourced service to customers that provides the benefits of integrated voice and data,” explains Guido Roda, Network Service Engineering Director at FastWeb. “At the same time, it enables us to offer a much lower total cost of ownership compared to a traditional solution with a separate router and PBX.” FastWeb compared the Cisco CallManager Express solution to those of competing vendors, and found that Cisco delivered the highest level of performance and value for the price. The solution also offered smoother, easier integration with FastWeb’s existing H.323 network when compared to other solutions. The Cisco CallManager Express solution is available as part of two FastWeb packaged solutions, which are configured depending on the number of users. For customers requiring up to 24 phones, FastWeb offers a package featuring the Cisco 1751 or 1760 Modular Access Router, along with Cisco IP phones 7960G and 7910G and Cisco Catalyst® 2950 Ethernet switches. For businesses requiring up to 120 phone users, FastWeb deploys a bundle based on the Cisco 2600XM Series Multiservice Access Router. Cisco access routers connect FastWeb customers to the public switched network, as well as to the Internet and data network. A complete, all-in-one solution, the access routers provide support for data applications as well as the most commonly used telephony functions like call hold, call transfer, call waiting, call conferencing, and directory services. The flexible design of the Cisco CallManager Express solution lets FastWeb configure each deployment to meet individual customer requirements. “The Cisco CallManager Express solution lets us create a profile of standard telephony services, while giving us flexibility to offer features that meet specific customer needs,” says Roda. Customers pay a monthly fee on a per-phone basis, depending on the number of phones they require. Each package includes voice and data connectivity, and rates are competitive with voice rates charged by the incumbent local phone carrier. FastWeb handles most of its customers’ network management, although local network administrators are provided with a set of service configuration tools that let them set up and modify call forwarding and other telephony features.

Results

Since 2001, more than 800 small-business customers have signed up for the FastWeb voice and data service powered by the Cisco CallManager Express solution. And the service is growing at a rate of 80 new subscribers a month. According to Guido Roda, customers appreciate the single, integrated solution. “Our customers like the service packaging because they no longer have to worry about setting up separate maintenance contracts with PBX suppliers,” says Roda. “They also appreciate the ease-of-use of the [solution], and the outsourced management that the Cisco solution enables.” Because FastWeb’s customers can easily switch to the Cisco CallManager Express solution, they have even more incentive to discover the benefits of a converged IP solution.

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“The fact that we can also support local number portability with “We believe customers will like the service better when we offer a our H.323 infrastructure makes it very convenient, because local language interface, which is one of the features that is often customers don’t even have to change their phone numbers,” found on a PBX system,” says Roda. “We’re confident a localized continues Roda. “And small businesses tend to have the flexibility interface will make the service even more successful.” and open-mindedness that makes them more likely to move from The Cisco CallManager Express solution is continually under their incumbent carriers to an alternative carrier like FastWeb.” improvement, and FastWeb hopes to use its investment in this attractive, future-proof solution for ongoing success well into Next Steps the future. FastWeb plans to take its customer satisfaction a step higher by upgrading its solution to include the very latest Cisco CallManager Contact: Express features, including localized language support. Guido Roda, Network Service Engineering Director, FastWeb

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