President and Chief Executive Officer, Calix

You’ve heard me talk a lot about the need to think beyond speed. To ensure success in the long term, you need to deliver one thing: exceptional subscriber experiences. To enable you to build a successful future, Calix is now in our third phase of evolution. We’re focusing on enabling broadband service providers (BSPs) like you to grow value with an expanding ecosystem of managed services and capabilities. And we are excited about the future. 

Out-innovating the big cable and legacy telcos and crushing the consumer giants to help you WIN is what drives Calix. We keep innovating to position you, our BSP partners, as the giants in your communities. You’ll do this by expanding beyond residential into new markets—including business and community—and delivering exceptional subscriber experiences built around portfolios of Wi-Fi-powered managed services. 

With the end-to-end Calix solution, you already have everything you need to deliver these incredible experiences today. Now is the time to be the giant, wow subscribers, and send Net Promoter Scores℠ (NPS®) soaring. By doing so, you’ll build a trusted brand. As we shared at ConneXions, three things make this shift possible:

1. Calix is your number one innovation engine so you can transform your business at lightning speed. Calix has spent 11 years and over $1 billion developing our cloud and software platforms: Calix Revenue EDGE™, Calix Intelligent Access EDGE™, and Calix Cloud®. Our commitment to innovation gives you the experiences, operational efficiencies, and branding opportunities to make you the giant. This is what innovation at speed looks like. And no one can move as fast as you with Calix as your partner. 
2. You have access to capital, partnerships, and platforms to transform and deliver exceptional subscriber experiences. Like Calix, private equity and private investors understand the power of regional BSPs to grow value in communities. Many of you have spent decades building long-lasting relationships in communities and earning subscriber trust. Investors see an incredible opportunity in helping BSPs like you transform and build brand loyalty over the next 20, 30, 40 years. They know it will pay off over the long term. No one is better suited than you to give subscribers services that they want and love, that enrich their lives and drive economic vitality. And the upside of this is more value for members, subscribers, communities, and investors. 
3. Speed is table stakes—you will win by providing a differentiated experience. Managed services, not speed, will drive incredible value for ALL your stakeholders. This is where we change the game. By building exceptional experiences with managed services, you can create value-add and avoid the risk of commoditization. We announced four new managed services at ConneXions, bringing our total to 11. And we’re just getting started. Calix is attracting a whole ecosystem of managed service partners who are building on our platform. They’re flocking to us. Why? They have to integrate just ONCE to reach thousands of BSPs and millions of subscribers. No more custom-built applications that take months or years to build. We’ll keep growing our roster of exciting services so you can keep innovating. You’ll be able to focus on delivering tailored experiences that will help you win subscribers, grow ARPU, and boost NPS. 

At ConneXions, we brought this to life—with Calix-partnered BSPs joining us onstage to share their journey of becoming experience providers to serve the needs of households, businesses, and their wider communities. Read Matt Collins’ article to learn how Calix customers are leading the way and becoming giants in their markets. 

Our Calix-partnered BSPs have something so powerful in common: You love your customers, your towns, and your communities, and you add value to their lives. Together, we’re all part of this paradigm shift in our market. By embracing exceptional experiences, new markets open, your reach grows into more businesses and across towns, your residential footprints expand, and ultimately you change lives for the better. And it’s you, the BSP, that becomes THE trusted brand and a pillar in your communities.

Wishing you continued success, 
Michael

As always, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns, please reach out to me at michael.weening@calix.com and connect with me on LinkedIn.

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Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations and Chief Marketing Officer, Calix

ConneXions 2022 was record-breaking. A record 2,600+ attendees joined us at the Wynn, with more GMs, marketers, customer support staff, and technical experts than ever before. Record attendance from Calix partners. More sessions, more speakers, and more great content. But the best part was not the records we broke. It was hearing stories from our customers, and hearing how excited and inspired you are to become giants for your subscribers and communities. (You don’t have to take my word for it; read this blog by Natalie Straight, marketing director at REV—“Be the Giant: Top 3 Insights From ConneXions 2022.”)

Driving the Rapid Expansion of the Platform Ecosystem and Managed Services 
In addition to the dozens of leaders that took the stage at ConneXions, another star of the show was the rapidly expanding ecosystem of Calix managed services. As Michael Weening shared in the opening general session, we have entered a new era—announcing our 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th managed services. Our goal is to partner with you to bring amazing new services to your subscribers at unprecedented speed. With the four new services announced at ConneXions, we’re giving you even more opportunities to reach new markets—including business and community leaders—while expanding your residential footprints. 

• SmartTown™ enables you to connect people with private, secure, and safe Wi-Fi experiences in town, at parks, at outdoor events, and on the go.
• SmartBiz™ gives you a broadband solution purpose-built to address the needs of small businesses.
• Arlo Security fully managed home protection helps you differentiate in increasingly competitive broadband markets.
• HomeOfficeIQ provides automatic failover so you can keep home workers connected to critical services no matter what.

Giants like ALLO, MEC, Nex-Tech, Paul Bunyan, and Schurz have embraced managed services to become subscriber experience providers for residential subscribers, businesses, and their communities. Here are a few of the stories customers shared on the main stage: 

• Paul Bunyan Communications is leveraging their network for the benefit of their community. Of course, they have an amazing network—they were the first to offer gigabit speeds in their service area. They offer managed Wi-Fi, home network security, and advanced home controls, and they’ll be rolling out exciting services like Arlo Security. But that’s just the start. Their involvement in the 218 Relocate program, which attracts remote workers to the area, is one of the reasons Bemidji, Minnesota, was voted one of the top work-from-home destinations in North America by PC Magazine. Paul Bunyan runs an annual e-gaming tournament that now draws more than 4,000 gamers—further reinforcing their brand with this tech-savvy segment. It’s all about leveraging the network for the benefit of their community, and, for Paul Bunyan Communications, this has resulted in 30 percent broadband subscriber growth in three years, 30 percent employee growth, and 76 percent higher take rate for managed services. 
• Nex-Tech is an undisputed giant when it comes to providing corporate-grade managed services. They have years of experience serving 5,000 business customers, 75 percent of which are small businesses. Their customer churn is a minuscule 1 percent and they have a Net Promoter Score℠ (NPS®) of +73 and a customer satisfaction score (CSAT) of 98 percent. Realizing that expensive, complex solutions used by larger businesses are rarely transferrable to small businesses, they knew they could do better for these subscribers. Offering a suite of remote “IT Manager” type services such as managed Wi-Fi, cybersecurity, wireless backup, data insights, and multiple Wi-Fi channels, Nex-Tech has deepened their relationships with their small business customers. This partnership spurred us to create Calix SmartBiz to address the productivity needs of North America’s 34 million small businesses.  
• ALLO Communications (ALLO) is evolving to fulfill their vision of a truly connected gigabit society. First to market with Calix SmartTown, ALLO has already delivered secure, dependable Wi-Fi at community-wide events and will expand into more outdoor events, festivals, local schools, and non-profit organizations to drive digital inclusion and optimize learning environments. Enabling secure connectivity beyond the home or business opens so many new possibilities and will literally change the lives of residents—leveling up access for underprivileged sections of society and transforming how organizations such as police, fire, and emergency responders work and connect. 

All these BSPs have something important in common: Their subscribers love them. As these giants know, with every additional managed service you offer, you have another opportunity to create a lasting bond with your subscribers. You can show them love by giving them services that make their lives and communities better. And in return, your subscribers will love you right back. 

Didn’t make it to ConneXions 2022? Watch the ConneXions Virtual Learning Experience on demand.

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Area Vice President, Product Marketing, Calix

By increasing customer retention just 5 percent, brands can increase profits by 25 to 95 percent. With a return like that, it seems obvious that companies would focus on increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, with an average Net Promoter Score℠ (NPS®) in the negative to low 20s territory, it’s clear that providing an exceptional subscriber experience has not been a priority for Tier 1 broadband service providers (BSPs).

You Can Be the Giant in Subscriber Experience 
It doesn’t have to be this way. Hundreds of Calix-partnered BSPs—like Cumberland Connect, Jade Communications, MHTC, Norvado, Ontario & Trumansburg Telephone Companies, and STRATA Networks—are proof. They’re delivering amazing subscriber experiences and reaping the benefits: higher ARPU, lower subscriber churn, and NPS as high as the 90s. Here’s the formula for their success.

1. Provide a growing portfolio of innovative managed services that subscribers want. Calix makes it easy for you to introduce new managed services your subscribers will love and value. With services like ProtectIQ® home network security, Arlo Secure connected cameras, and Bark online monitoring (to name just a few), you’ll create a sticky experience that will keep subscribers coming back for more.  
2. Gain unprecedented insights into subscribers and prospects to tailor the experience. Calix Marketing Cloud Plus is the only marketing platform that enables you to enrich subscriber experience data with demographic, psychographic, and geographic insights. Now you can show your subscribers and prospects you understand them by targeting them with experiences that meet their unique needs.  
3. Build a brand that will stand out from the competition. The Calix Market Activation program provides the assets, resources, and support you need to run agency-quality campaigns that will position your brand as a giant in experience. You can be world-class marketers regardless of your size or location.

Fred Reichheld, creator of the NPS, recently shared that BSPs who consistently surprise their customers with new innovations—new experiences—maintain a higher NPS that yields loyalty for life. You can be one of those BSPs; just follow the formula and lead with experience.

Learn more about creating an exceptional subscriber experience. Download the eBook “The Definitive Guide to Subscriber Experience.”

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Senior Manager, SmartTown Wi-Fi Solutions Marketing, Calix

As a successful broadband service provider (BSP) you have likely built your market reputation on providing a fast, secure, and supportive experience within subscribers’ homes and businesses. But are you extending that experience to the wider communities you serve? If not, you could be missing golden opportunities to grow your reputation, drive “stickiness,” and differentiate yourself from your competition. 

There are many flavors of “public Wi-Fi” present today: pay-as-you-go services, hotspots subsidized by municipalities, and “free” Wi-Fi provided in public spaces, just to name a few. If you’ve ever tried to connect to such a service, you’ll know the experience usually isn’t great. 

That’s why Calix has reimagined the community Wi-Fi experience with SmartTown™. It works by extending the existing home Wi-Fi experience beyond the four walls of the home and connecting subscribers to secure Wi-Fi experiences across town, parks, outdoor events, and on the go. SmartTown leverages your existing network investments in Calix Wi-Fi systems, including the GigaSpire® family and the recently announced GigaPro™ p6he designed for outdoor use. 

SmartTown is deployed, managed, and supported by the same Calix platforms you use for residential and business, reducing operational complexity. That means that, unlike those frustrating “public Wi-Fi” experiences you may have tried before, the management of SmartTown replicates the trusted home Wi-Fi experience, making onboarding and troubleshooting a breeze—and security assured.     

Here are five ways SmartTown will deliver value to your community: 

1. Allow subscribers to take their home Wi-Fi with them as they move through their communities—building subscriber loyalty. 
2. Extend secure Wi-Fi to outdoor community events—building brand visibility.
3. Provide critical connectivity for first responders and smart infrastructure.
4. Bring secure internet to schools and remotely connect students and teachers.
5. Deliver digital infrastructure that increases economic vitality and attracts new residents and businesses to your town.

Service providers such as Mississippi’s Tombigbee Fiber—a subsidiary of the Tombigbee Electric Cooperative—are already looking at opportunities to deploy SmartTown to their communities. 

“We think SmartTown is an amazing concept that will enable us to bring a world-class offering to small towns across Mississippi, powering everything from smart water meters to connectivity at civic events,” says Scott Hendrix, CEO of Tombigbee. “In Tupelo, we already have Calix GigaSpire systems deployed all over town—so why add in another technology? By using our existing Calix platforms and cloud products, we can roll out SmartTown quickly and cost-effectively.”  

So, get ready to become a giant in your community—and make your town a SmartTown.

Learn more about Calix SmartTown or request an executive briefing to get started.

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Director, Product Marketing - Support Cloud, Calix

Service providers seeking growth must unlock new markets and generate new ways to deliver value. Claix SmartTown™, for example, is a breakthrough solution that extends a subscriber’s residential Wi-Fi experience into their community—helping BSPs grow their businesses beyond the four walls of the home. 

Support teams must keep pace. New services can involve different subscriber support needs, yet this doesn’t have to mean more complexity if support teams have access to the right data, tools, and resources. 

That’s why we’re leveraging the power of Calix platforms to provide data from the WAN, residential gateways, Wi-Fi, connected devices, and subscriber apps. This gives end-to-end visibility into the subscriber experience, which can simplify support processes and drive efficiency. For example, we’re extending Calix Support Cloud (Support Cloud) to provide proactive monitoring and subscriber support for SmartTown—enabling support teams to easily integrate the new service into existing workflows.  

All the Insight You Need in a Single View

Support Cloud gives support teams everything they need to know in one system and in a format they easily understand. They’re no longer drowning in data or “swivel-chairing” between different systems. They’re using actionable insights to troubleshoot faster and serve subscribers more efficiently. Furthermore, Calix Customer Success Services can help support teams optimize their operations—simplifying support even more. As a result, any concern about supporting a new service can be resolved. 

Service providers are taking advantage of Support Cloud and the CommandIQ® mobile app, which allows subscribers to manage their own experience, to effectively support the rollout of managed services. Take Oklahoma-based Centranet, for example, which was able to grow its subscriber base to over 4,000 since launch in 2021 and deliver an exceptional customer satisfaction score of 9.5 out of 10 while:  

• Rolling out managed services, ExperienceIQ® and ProtectIQ®, with adoption rates of 94 percent two months after launch
• Reducing the number of inbound calls being escalated to Tier 1 support by 50 percent, together with ProtectIQ and ExperienceIQ
• Driving a 92 percent adoption rate of CommandIQ

Calix is helping BSPs such as Centranet every step of the way as they roll out and support exciting new managed services. By harnessing the power of our platforms, Calix is enabling even the smallest BSPs to deliver world-class customer support with Support Cloud and CommandIQ—and become giants in their markets.  

Watch our webinar—“More Complexity. Fewer Problems. How Proactive Support Boosts the Broadband Subscriber Experience”—to discover how to use market insights to simplify subscriber support during times of growth

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Systems Marketing Director, AXOS Systems, Calix

Service deployments can be challenging. Tough decisions need to be made on how to deploy infrastructure in tricky geographic environments—or if it’s even economically viable to do so. Today’s broadband service providers (BSPs) are seeking operationally efficient solutions that provide unparalleled deployment flexibility and accelerates their time-to-market market capabilities. 

Rapidly Acquire New Markets While Turning Up Services With Greater Energy Efficiency

The power of the Calix Intelligent Access EDGE™ platform gives BSPs the flexibility to deploy a range of systems suited for different scenarios while maintaining a common operational model. The E3-2, for example, is optimized for low to mid-density areas and features a “deploy anywhere” design that does not require active cooling and can be mounted aerially, on a wall, on a pedestal, or on a pole. This flexibility dramatically reduces costs (BSPs can realize up to a 50 percent reduction in their total cost of ownership over a cabinet-based solution) while accelerating construction and service activation capabilities. 

Subscribers in rural communities have long endured slow speeds and poor service. They can now expect better. The latest evolution of the E3-2 has doubled its density from four ports to eight ports. It can also combine GPON, XGS-PON, and a coexistence element into a single SFP+ optic allowing network operators to move subscribers from GPON to XGS-PON without touching the system.

By deploying E3-2 as part of an end-to-end Intelligent Access EDGE solution, BSPs can: 

• Deploy quickly, in more locations, and for less OPEX than other solutions
• Support the increasing bandwidth demands of subscribers—no matter where they live
• Leverage rapid XGS-PON integration to turn up services in rural and suburban markets faster than the competition
• Reduce the need to deploy cabinets and other costly infrastructure when it’s not economically feasible
• Ensure Always On availability and zero downtime for subscribers during network upgrades

“As our current broadband markets continue to expand, it is increasingly critical that we can turn up operationally efficient broadband services in new markets at a fast pace,” said Terry Rubenthaler, chief operations officer at Midwest Energy & Communications. “The new E3-2 modules support these initiatives, combined with the unbeatable power of the Calix end-to-end platforms, and ensure that we can rapidly turn up and deploy new services that delight our subscribers easily and quickly.”

Delivering on the Green Broadband Promise

Building the most efficient network isn’t just about reducing the management and maintenance efforts required to operate the network. It’s also about reducing the total footprint—space, power, and cooling resources—required.   

In the case of the newly upgraded E3-2, the increased port density means even fewer nodes need to be deployed to reach your rural and suburban subscribers. This results in a 50 percent reduction in energy usage per port. 

Now you can secure a competitive advantage that is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

Learn more about the power of our platform. Download our Intelligent Access EDGE Solution Overview.

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