Bay gives corporates lease of life

Bay Networks is to introduce leasing schemes for corporates to hire remote access equipment.

The firm aims to steal a march on its rivals by offering customers a lower risk entry route to installing switches and other kit.

The leasing scheme launched for corporate customers and ISPs in the US, will be extended to Europe later in the year. It will focus on Bay?s 5000 MSX switch, which combines routing, switching and dial-up connections, and the 5399 remote access concentrator.

To buy outright, these products costs about $430 per port, but the leasing programme will offer them for about $15 per port per month. No UK terms have yet been released.

A two-year lease requires a 10 per cent down-payment, but a three-year contract needs no up-front cash. At the end of the lease period, customers can purchase the equipment at ?fair? market value ? to be determined by the supplier ? or return it to Bay.

The leasing programme will appeal to startup ISPs that need to build and expand networks very quickly, but may lack ready cash flow, and will also appeal to medium-sized companies with many remote branches, according to analysts.