Nortel Buzzboard

For several years the cable companies in the U.S. have been effectively taking customers from the traditional telcos in the residential voice market. An area they have not addressed as aggressively, though, has been the business market. That may be changing.

This week Nortel announced that Cox Communications, the nation’s 3rd largest cable operator, had signed a multi-year agreement with Nortel to become the first cable operator to use Nortel’s new Small Business Sales Center. The Center is dedicated to helping cable operators with the sales, products, installation and support of solutions targeted to the more than seven million small businesses in the U.S. that have fewer than 20 employees. Since only 11% of these small business have dedicated IT staff, this segment can be a very significant opportunity for cable companies (and others) who are willing to address their specific solution and support needs.

The Small Business Sales Center provides a “white label” service to cable companies, allowing them to use the center for sales, product, installation and support needs under the cable company’s own brand name. For example, Nortel’s Sales Center can make sales calls on the cable company’s behalf, provide call center helpdesk support, and provides implementation services that include warehousing, provisioning, configuration, installation and training.

And of course, Nortel also has complete portfolio of SMB products and solutions that cable operators like Cox can leverage.

UPDATED: See below for a few pics from the Nortel Small Business Sales Center. Click on thumbnails to see the full-size pic.