South Slope Communications Cooperative uses Calix Active Ethernet for fiber access
APRIL 26, 2010 -- Calix (NYSE: CALX; search Lightwave for Calix) says that Iowa ILEC South Slope Cooperative Communications Co. has selected the Calix Unified Access portfolio to bring Active Ethernet-based fiber to the premises (FTTP) to 14,000 homes and businesses across the communities it serves.
The company plans to replace its aging copper infrastructures with a standards-based fiber access network engineered to deliver 1 Gbps to every premises. This recently launched phased five-year, $60 million project -- the value of which includes plant engineering, materials, labor, and other costs including access equipment -- is designed to deliver services such as IPTV, symmetrical residential and business data services, and reliable voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services by leveraging fiber to increase network capacity while also reducing operational expenses.
"As we looked at the growth in bandwidth use among our subscribers today and the prospect of increased competition in our serving areas, we knew it was time to boldly upgrade our network infrastructure," said J.R. Brumley, CEO at South Slope Cooperative Communications. "We could already see on the horizon a need for 50-100 Mbps per home, and realized that if we didn't aim higher, we'd be going through this same exercise again in a few years' time. With innovative fiber access solutions from Calix, we believe we can cost-effectively leapfrog our competition, thrill our residential and business subscribers, and instantiate a network designed to address the needs of tomorrow."
The project includes planned investment of more than $10 million each year, including plant engineering, materials, labor, and other costs including access equipment. The access equipment portion of this project is being built with the Calix E7 ESAP and 700GX/700GE ONT portfolio.
This project, one of the largest of its kind in the country, is being completed without the use of federal broadband stimulus funds.
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