Two Ways We Leveraged the Broadband Platform: Streamline Operations and Kickstart Innovation

Our parent company, MidSouth Electric Cooperative, has served consumers across rural southeast Texas for over 70 years. Despite this long history, we were essentially a startup when we began building our fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network in 2020. We didn’t have the deep resources of a large provider, and I was just one of a few people dedicated to rolling out MidSouth Fiber’s new network.

We needed partners that could provide us with best-in-class solutions. However, selecting standalone products, no matter how good they were, meant spending valuable time and effort integrating everything. This was not an option for a company with limited resources. We needed something simple to deploy and operate straight out of the box—something that just worked.
 

That’s why we opted for a platform-based approach by partnering with Calix. This allowed us to evolve our operations with a partner that shares our vision for simplified operational excellence.
 

As a result, our operational model today is organized around these key areas: the integration between our Calix systems, our GLDS customer management and billing system, and the actionable insights provided by Calix Cloud®.

Seamless System Integration

Using webhooks to integrate Calix Operations Cloud with our billing system, MidSouth Fiber introduced a revolutionary new system for detecting network outages. We get real-time updates about line disruptions and impacted subscribers the moment they happen, allowing our internal teams to take swift action to resolve the problem. This has dramatically reduced the volume of inbound calls to our service centers.
 

This integration also gives our team instant access to subscriber information once they’re online. In the early days, we relied on receiving a flat file and didn’t have up-to-date information if a subscriber called within the first 48 hours of activation (when they’re most likely to do so). Now, our customer service team has immediate access to the insights they need.
 

This solution would have taken months of effort for us to develop in-house. Instead, we were able to roll out the system seamlessly via the Calix Broadband Platform.

Innovation Delivered via the Cloud

We fully utilize Calix Coud within the Calix Platform. This provides our operations, support, and marketing teams with a simple tool that streamlines processes and drives efficiency. It allows even junior members of our network operations center to act as seasoned veterans who can solve complex problems.
 

With the Calix Platform as the foundation of our FTTH offering, MidSouth can quickly and easily bring innovative new services to market. Key to this is the Operations Cloud integration with our OSS/BSS partner that enables us to receive real-time outage alerts and pass on information directly to our subscribers via SMS.
 

After 70 years, it’s another example of how we continue to add value for our co-op members and deliver for our communities.