BOSTON--Connect123.net, a Raleigh, N.C.- based provider of VoIP services in 915 U.S. markets, announced today it is using Perimeter Networks Unified Threat Management suite of managed security services to offer its small to mid-sized business customers.

By partnering with Perimeter, Connect123 is able to offer customers a hosted security option that addresses their need for intrusion detection, e-mail anti-virus, gateway anti-virus, spam filtering and other services.

“We’re really excited about the partnership with Perimeter,” said John Adgate, vice president of sales for Connect123. “Working with Perimeter allows us to deliver mission critical solutions to our customers. While we are doing that, we stay focused on providing VoIP services.”

Connect123 bundles the Perimeter products into its service for a flat monthly fee, Adgate said.

Customers are increasingly eager to talk about security needs and aware that they need help, he said.

“As time has gone by with more things going over the Internet, people have more and more concern, and they are looking for people that specialize in being able to make those concerns go away,” he said. “If Connect123 were to come up with its own products, we could spend all of our time doing that.”

Perimeter has targeted competitive carriers with its service, and the VoIP industry is a major target.

“Connect123 is the next generation of the CLEC industry,” said Clark Easterling, vice president of marketing for Perimeter. “The VoIP carriers out there, they give a much broader reach than the CLECs. Connect123 is fairly new to the game, and they can cover 70% of the U.S. CLECs can’t cover that large of an area, so VoIP players bring us a large untapped marketplace and are going after small to mid-sized businesses, which is a sweet spot for us.