Star, a major business-only internet service provider in the UK, has launched a managed private network service.
The ISP, which has around around 4,000 customers, mostly in the small-business market, started selling the Netstar IP service on Wednesday, it announced at the IP'08 convergence conference in London. Netstar IP allows workers to securely access their company data and applications from the office or remotely, using Star's next-generation network. It also bundles in voice services.
There is currently a poor choice for companies that are keen to have a single supplier for all their voice and data connectivity requirements, Star's head of convergence and network strategy, Hugo Harber, said in a statement. Harber added that, like larger businesses, small businesses should have access to cutting-edge technology to improve their competitive advantage.
Star is pitching the service at small businesses of between 50-500 employees. As with all such services, the cost depends on the size of the business and its requirements, but Harber told ZDNet.co.uk at IP'08 that the average Star customer would pay between £15,000-£20,000 for Netstar IP.
"The economics of it is where we think it wins right now," Harber said, adding that Star had tried to make a product that would work very well with single-site companies. Netstar IP gives customers the option of putting application servers into their head offices, or into one of Star's datacentres.
