By Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

It has never been a better time to be a subagent—at least if you’re a subagent with master agent Telarus.

Comcast (News - Alert) Business Services, a channel partner of Telarus, recently revealed that it is the world's first Carrier Ethernet 2.0-certified provider. In fact, the cable provider is the first to earn the Metro Ethernet Forum (News - Alert) (MEF) designation for its E-Line and E-LAN services, according to a statement by the company.

The certification ensures the provider’s classes of service, serve manageability and interoperability.

“A milestone was reached this year when for the first time Carrier Ethernet services share of bandwidth exceeded the sum total of all legacy telecom services across the world, with Frost & Sullivan, Vertical Systems and Infonetics (News - Alert) predicting a near $48 billion services market by 2015," said Nan Chen, president of the MEF, in a statement. "We are therefore very pleased to see that Comcast has achieved the latest milestone in our industry – becoming the first CE 2.0 Service Provider."

With the certification, subagents through Telarus now have a new selling point when offering cable services to organizations such as hospitals and banks.

"This certification underscores our commitment to being a technology and standards leader in the Ethernet ecosystem to improve the quality, management and interoperability of Ethernet services for our customers," added Mike Tighe, executive director of Data Services at Comcast Business Services.

Telarus (News - Alert), in conjunction with Comcast, also has recently released the Comcast Automated Paperwork Creator.

“Master agents are responsible for many things these days including managing partners or subagents, who sell a specific carrier’s products, powering back-office support, and offering experienced consultation and product training,” noted TMCnet’s Jamie Epstein earlier this month. “In order to ramp up the profits seen from selling to the lower end of the market while making the process overall much less complex, the Comcast Automated Paperwork Creator made its way to market.”

The robust tool prevents subagents from not having to enter the same information repeatedly, saving agents time while also keeping important paperwork organized.

The information can then be read immediately after submission by agents to Comcast, ensuring that the order is received immediately, installations are completed earlier, and commissions go out faster.

The feature is part of GeoQuote, a Telarus product launched in 2003 that rapidly and accurately quotes transaction products offered to businesses by carriers, including products like data T1, PRI, Ethernet over copper, cable Internet/voice/TV and more.

Edited by Jamie Epstein