May 19 2010
Calix (NYSE:CALX) today announced that Indiana communications service provider Smithville Telephone Company (Smithville) has selected the Calix Unified Access portfolio to bring fiber access solutions to approximately 34,000 homes and businesses across the communities it serves.
Calix C7 Multiservice Access Platform
The company plans to move “Fiber Forward,” replacing its aging copper infrastructure with an advanced, standards-based fiber access network engineered to deliver between 100 megabits per second (Mbps) to one gigabit per second (Gbps) to every premises. The $128 million initiative, the value of which includes plant engineering, materials, labor, and other costs including access equipment, is composed of a $90 million dollar Rural Utilities Service (RUS) loan complemented by a $38 million Broadband Stimulus award funded through the Broadband Initiative Program (BIP). Scheduled to complete in 2013, thousands of homes and businesses in Smithville’s service area have already been installed during the initial phases of this project, and are benefiting from advanced IPTV, ultra-high-speed data services, and reliable voice services delivered via gigabit passive optical networking (GPON) and Active Ethernet (AE) technologies across the Calix Unified Access Infrastructure.
“As we considered the increasing demand for high-bandwidth broadband services as well as the economic development needs of the communities in our service areas, moving ‘Fiber Forward’ was the right thing to do,” said Darby McCarty, CEO of Smithville. “Not only can we use this network to deliver world-class information, communication, and entertainment services to our residential and business subscribers, but we can also dramatically reduce our long-term operational costs – which is critical as we adapt our business model to reflect both a changing regulatory environment and increasing competition. The Calix Unified Access portfolio provides us with the tools we need to delight our customers efficiently and cost-effectively, and we look forward to the completion of this project when every Smithville subscriber will have access to the power of fiber.”
Smithville is Indiana’s largest independent operating company (IOC). This project, one of the largest of its kind in the country, is being driven by emerging consumer demands, heightening competition, and a desire to provide subscribers with an infrastructure that can support the advanced broadband services of today and tomorrow while lowering ongoing operational costs. The access equipment portion of this project is being built with the Calix Unified Access portfolio, including the Calix C7 Multiservice Access Platform (MSAP), the E7 Ethernet Service Access Platform (ESAP), the 700GX/700GE ONT portfolio, and Calix Management System (CMS) to deliver a variety of services, from advanced IPTV to business services. Calix Compatible partners like Cisco are also providing key components of the overall solution, delivering IPTV middleware and set-top boxes.
“Smithville stands out among a growing cadre of North American communications service providers who have both staked out a bold fiber access vision for the communities that they serve and aligned the resources necessary to bring this vision to fruition,” said John Colvin, vice president of field operations at Calix. “Leveraging both existing government loan programs (RUS) and Stimulus funds from the BIP, the scope and scale of Smithville’s investment in its community will forever change the face of communications in southern Indiana. Calix is proud to be a key strategic partner to Smithville in helping to make this broadband vision of the future a reality.”