Calix expands security options in SmartBiz to protect small businesses from cyberthreats

Calix expanded security measures in Calix SmartBiz to enable broadband service providers (BSPs) to seamlessly serve their small business markets.

With 43% of all cyberattacks targeting businesses with fewer than 250 employees, small and medium business owners need powerful and affordable cybersecurity solutions tailored to their needs.

SmartBiz enables BSPs to address the unique productivity challenges of the 36.5 million small businesses across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. New security capabilities like increased network protection with user-specific authentication and content restrictions enable BSPs to further enable small businesses in their communities to thrive.

With SmartBiz, Calix-partnered BSPs can easily offer the right solutions that small business owners need—from secure connectivity to business productivity applications. Plus, they can leverage the same end-to-end platform they use for residential markets to service their small business subscribers.

As a fully integrated managed service for the Calix broadband platform, SmartBiz enables BSPs to catalyze small business growth in their communities while driving new revenue.

Calix has expanded security options in SmartBiz so BSPs can further support small businesses from industries like retail, hospitality, and professional services that require advanced security features. These security capabilities enable BSPs to:

• Empower small business owners with more network controls. Small business owners can manage and isolate wired and wireless point of sale (POS) devices on the same systems they use to run their business. They can also apply security policies based on the network type—specifying different policies for primary network users, staff, POS, and even customers.
• Protect small businesses and their customers from cyberthreats. New network-specific content filtering in SmartBiz gives BSPs more flexibility to protect small businesses and their customers from malicious content and cybersecurity threats.
• Enable secure staff onboarding without changing passwords. Now small business owners can manage staff accounts easily when they join or leave the business. They can also apply network access hours and content restrictions to staff networks.
• Expanded security for mesh Wi-Fi. Small business owners can now rely on added encryption between gateways and satellites. Information previously vulnerable to hackers is now encrypted for more secure connections throughout small business networks.

“We are in a golden age of what we can offer subscribers and how we can deliver the best experience,” said Paul Hauer, president and general manager of DirectLink. “We are a cooperative with 120 years of experience serving our community. Thanks to innovation from Calix, we have never had so many options to deliver new value to our residential and business subscribers. SmartBiz simplifies small business connectivity by enabling us to deliver a comprehensive solution tailored to the needs of all types of small businesses. By leveraging our investment in the Calix broadband platform, we can deliver a broadband experience to small business owners in our community that supports and protects their path to success. Calix continues to iterate on what we can offer subscribers and makes the launch path easy. We can’t wait to see what is next.”

SmartBiz is composed of SmartBizWorx productivity software and the CommandWorx mobile app. CommandWorx is integrated with award-winning Calix Wi-Fi systems and Calix Support Cloud to enable self-service access to SmartBiz and its features. As a result, small business owners can monitor and manage SmartBiz from anywhere with one easy-to-use app built for their needs.

“We built the SmartBiz managed service to enable small and medium business subscribers because our customers identified that enterprise solutions do not scale down to meet the needs of this market segment,” said Michael Weening, president and CEO at Calix.

“Enterprise solutions are too complex and costly. They frustrate the business owner, who lacks the IT staff to handle the complexity of running them. With SmartBiz, the BSP can provide small and medium businesses with a comprehensive solution that is fully managed while protecting the business, employees, and their customers from cyberthreats. At the same time, the BSP can offer wireless redundancy and an intuitive management experience for the business owner. Additionally, SmartBiz opens opportunities for the broadband provider to securely extend their SmartTown Wi-Fi coverage to downtown.

“That way, they delight the community with Wi-Fi roaming that enables education, community services, industrial IoT, and mobile roaming. The result? The BSP can align with community leadership. These latest enhancements to SmartBiz are an important step in helping broadband service providers of all sizes expand well beyond a legacy competitor while transforming the communities they serve through the power of the Calix broadband platform and our fully integrated managed services,” concluded Weening.