Multiple Broadband Stimulus award winner Halstad Telephone Company selects Calix for trio of fiber access initiatives
April 13, 2010 — PETALUMA, CA—Calix (NYSE: CALX) today announced that Halstad Telephone Company (HTC), a three-time winner of awards provided in Round One of the Broadband Initiatives Program of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, has formally selected the Calix Unified Access portfolio to bring 100 megabits per second (Mbps) to thousands of homes and businesses in communities it serves across Minnesota and North Dakota. Leveraging an aggregate of $11.7 million in "Broadband Stimulus" funds to implement and deploy its network, HTC will deliver advanced IPTV services, residential and business data services, fiber-fed mobile backhaul services, and reliable voice over IP (VOIP) services to previously "underserved" and "unserved" communities.
"The Broadband Stimulus program offered us the opportunity to target a variety of bandwidth-hungry residences and businesses in underserved and unserved rural communities we serve, and enable each home the ability to receive data speeds of up to 100 Mbps – a figure equal to the 2020 goal targeted by the National Broadband Plan," said Tom Maroney, chief executive officer at HTC in Halstad, Minnesota. "Mark Forseth, operations manager at HTC, and I look at this award as a strategic investment opportunity for both our network and our communities, and believe that moving forward with deep fiber will give us the flexibility and capacity to stay ahead of emerging service requirements while making our own network substantially more efficient. As a cooperative, we literally owe it to our member customers to deliver the best service experience possible, and from our perspective there was only one company with the experience and breadth of product portfolio to help us capture this opportunity – Calix."
Marching "Fiber Forward" with Calix – Matching the "Right" Technology to Each Individual Deployment Scenario
HTC's three awarded proposals together cover a wide swath of seven communities and surrounding rural areas in the Red River Valley lying between Minnesota and North Dakota. Each community will be served via a combination of fiber access technologies (Active Ethernet (AE) or gigabit passive optical network (GPON)) according to its mix of residential and business services and its rural nature. Within Hillsboro, North Dakota, very high-speed digital subscriber line 2 (VDSL2) will be used as a deep fiber technology within the town and AE in the surrounding rural areas. From an application perspective, HTC plans to deliver to these communities a variety of advanced services like IPTV with Cisco middleware, SIP voice calls, a variety of residential and business data services, and even fiber-fed mobile backhaul leveraging T1s, pseudowire (PWE3), and Ethernet.
Key Calix platforms and equipment planned for deployment include:
- E7 Ethernet Service Access Platform (ESAP) delivering both AE and GPON services and leveraging a 10 Gbps Ethernet Ring Protection Switching (ERPS) ring.
- 711GX optical network terminals (ONTs) terminating both AE and GPON for residential applications and a mix of the760GX family of ONTs to deliver services to businesses, multiple dwelling units (MDUs), and cellular towers for mobile backhaul.
- E5-120 Ethernet Service Platforms providing VDSL2 and SIP voice services.
- All platforms, products, and services will be managed and monitored via the Calix Management System (CMS)independent of protocol or media type.
"Calix is proud to be assisting HTC in bringing advanced broadband services to these seven communities in Minnesota and North Dakota," said John Colvin, vice president of field operations at Calix. "With the vast majority of Round One last mile Broadband Stimulus awards going to communications service providers (CSPs) deploying fiber access technologies, the Calix Unified Access portfolio is well-suited to address the varying needs of these companies across GPON and AE technologies. Furthermore, with more independent U.S. CSPs building fiber access networks having reported the selection of the Calix Unified Access Infrastructure than all other equipment vendors combined, Calix has the experience to contribute greatly in making these deployments a success."
About Calix
Calix is a leading provider in North America of broadband communications access systems and software for copper- and fiber- based network architectures that enable communications service providers to connect to their residential and business subscribers. Calix has shipped over six million ports of its Unified Access Infrastructure portfolio to more than 500 North American and international customers, whose networks serve over 32 million subscriber lines in total.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are based upon management's current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this release and we assume no obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking statement to reflect any event or circumstance after the date of this release, except as required by law. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from current expectations, based on risks and uncertainties affecting the Company's business. The reader is cautioned not to unduly rely on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Additional information on potential factors that could affect Calix's results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in its prospectus, filed with the SEC on March 24, 2010, available at http://www.sec.gov.
Press Contact:
Catherine Koo
415-992-4400
calix@lewispr.com