ADTRAN Launches ProCloud Plus in Europe

Many service providers have a need to offer business-class Wi-Fi to their enterprise customers, but not all are equipped to deal with network management activities on their own. ADTRAN is now reaching out to those European service companies with its ProCloud Plus managed Wi-Fi that allows them to offload the responsibility of network management to trained professionals.

With its ProCloud Plus package, ADTRAN is reaching service providers, managed service providers, and value added resellers through cloud-managed Wi-Fi that originates from data centers placed across Europe. The white label platform allows companies to mold the Wi-Fi as their own package but then hand off responsibility to ADTRAN agents. This can provide an ease of use that was not previously possible and a reduction in capital expenditure because individual companies will not be responsible for the hardware that makes their services possible.

Eduard Scheiterer, the senior vice president and managing director of international markets at ADTRAN, summed up the service in his quote provided in his company's announcement.

“ADTRAN continues to build an innovative solution and service portfolio to address unique needs throughout this region,” Scheiterer said. “ADTRAN ProCloud Plus service is the first of many new developments in this initiative. We are offering service providers and VARs alike the ability to offload management activities, gain effortless flexibility in accommodating changing deployment scenarios, and sharpen their competitive edge.”

One of the biggest opportunities for service providers with this package is the ability for end users to switch between different service models without incurring any sort of penalty. This means that any provider can advertise a range of Wi-Fi packages to its customers and be assured that it can deliver on that promise. Any enterprise first using a base-level package that finds out it needs more bandwidth, for instance, can go right back to its service provider and ask for more. The customer will be able to get what it needs and there will be no penalties for the service provider for making that switch a reality.

ADTRAN cites recent research from IDC which estimates that 65 percent of enterprise IT organizations will begin using hybrid cloud technologies by 2016. That sort of demand will drive the type of Wi-Fi service mentioned above because, no doubt, the 65 percent will seek costs savings and flexibility in their products. In the context of wireless network access, that is exactly what ADTRAN hopes to achieve.