SMC Expands and Improves Product Offerings for Small Office, Hospitality, Broadband MSO and High-Performance Networking

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SMC Networks (www.smc.com) announced today its plans to continue to roll out networking solutions that respond directly to the needs of the SMB market, and to deliver its advanced platforms through the company’s channel partner experts, specialized VARs, resellers, MSOs and technology partners. SMC’s customer-oriented solutions focus comprises tight integration with its technology and channel partners for hands-on understanding of customer applications and requirements, as well as product innovation that is targeted to the needs and limitations of today’s businesses, and a development cycle that is one of the fastest in the business.

SMC Networks will continue to expand upon and enhance its successful high-performance networking product portfolio with solutions that make it possible for more companies to leverage high bandwidth availability in their networks. With 10G fiber switches and copper and fiber adapters, advanced cable solutions in the MSO space, and a customer-focused, feature-rich approach to the market being very well received, SMC continues to expand its evolving platform that’s focused on quality, value and best-of-breed technology. SMC has proven that the market is hungry for performance and bandwidth. The company’s standards-based 10G over copper switch, the SMC8724-10BT standalone switch with 20 10GBASE-T ports and four XFP-based 10G fiber ports will ship in early Q3 to a ready market. This, and the rest of its broad range of current SMC Networks 10Gigabit, Gigabit and 10/100 Ethernet products, give its partners the toolkit they need to build efficient networks that fill the needs of today’s SMB.

The company’s Broadband Development Group is a testament in itself to SMC’s commitment to the MSO market. Based upon a business model developed to enable the company to offer niche products with a richness of features and value-adds for specific cable submarkets, the unit focuses a wealth of hands-on networking and MSO experience and talent on the needs of the Broadband MSO market. Already an approved cable gateway vendor to eight of the top ten MSOs in the United States, SMC’s success in today’s highly-competitive cable CPE market is based upon its focus on customer partnership and on product development that meets partner-customers’ specific needs, rather than delivering products driven by retail forces. And, momentum is strong, as SMC is introducing three new DOCSIS 3.0-compliant products this quarter: the SMCD3CM DOCSIS® 3.0 Cable Modem for High-Speed Broadband Networking and the SMCD3BCM Business-Class DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem for High-Speed Broadband Networking and SMCD3G DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Gateway for High-Speed Broadband Networking. Samples of all three are available in May; the SMCD3CM and SMCD3BCM are available in production quantities, also in May, and the SMCD3G will be available in quantity in June.

Hospitality has been a key focus for SMC as well. This year, the company is enhancing the switches in its popular SMC88XX family with 4K VLANs, greater security protocols, and IPv6 to ensure greater integration capabilities for larger MDU/MTU environments. SMC is also expanding its VDSL2 product line to make it the solution of choice to offer high data rates to hotel rooms and apartments. The company will also offer a VDSL2 24-port option as part of its new Metro solution due to deploy in Q4, 2008, and, the company is enabling its smaller partners with a new Hostspot Gateway that features AAA, SNMP, SSL/SSH, user authentication and accounting, and a host of other features designed to empower small or remote offices with technology and security formerly available only for larger institutional deployments. SMC’s innovative product portfolio and responsive stance have solidified the company’s reputation as a partnership asset over the past year, and will drive its further penetration into the Hospitality market.

The SMB market remains one of SMC’s core markets, and the company’s presence there will continue to grow. Its newest offerings for that market include the new SMCBR21VPN VPN network router, and communications management with the easy to install and use PBX10 and WiFi phones for more efficient voice communication. Critical to the dynamic and growing small office, SMC continues to develop Power Over Ethernet switching solutions for small office network flexibility without power rewiring. The company will continue to act as a true member of the reseller sales team as they bid network installations, expansions and upgrades—from proof-of-concept to final contract. And its market-specific promotions will help partner businesses grow in their chosen business segments.

SMC’s technology continues to make the link that makes the difference. At its core, SMC’s user-friendly platforms for short learning curves, serviceability and reliability help VARs, MSOs, solution integrators and service management companies manage customers and their installations now, and as needs change. SMC’s technology for wireless networking, performance computing aggregation, regional office uplinks to corporate data centers, linked parallel processing and other bandwidth-intensive applications continue to find broad market acceptance, while its 10/100/1000 and its innovative 10G and 10GBASE-T solutions for high-bandwidth networking connections demonstrate its understanding of the needs of today’s various bandwidth-sensitive customers. And SMC’s policy of providing team-focused reseller support that goes beyond the norm makes the design decisions that make good networks come more easily with complimentary Wireless LAN Design Consulting to members of its Elite Partner Program (EPP). Once again, allowing the SMB to leverage SMC’s more than 30 years of experience at no cost.

SMC Networks will demonstrate its full line of products at Interop Las Vegas 2008, April 28-May 2, in their booth 1083 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. For more information about SMC Networks or its products, visit www.smc.com, or call 800-SMC-4You (800-762-4968).