JUNE 13, 2007 -- Hitachi Telecom (USA) Inc. (search for Hitachi Telecom) today announced that the company's AMN1220 GPON (search for GPON) product has been selected by Falcon Broadband to deliver video, high-speed Internet, and voice services in Falcon's service area in Colorado Springs, CO, and surrounding areas.
The choice of Hitachi's full-rate GPON portfolio allows Falcon to offer high-bandwidth triple-play services using a system that has been proven in commercial service for a full year, say Hitachi representatives. Deploying GPON from the beginning will position Falcon Broadband to upgrade its infrastructure to accommodate new, high-bandwidth services that will come on stream in the future.
Falcon Broadband, a Colorado Springs provider of triple play services--cable television, high-speed Internet, traditional voice or voice over IP (VoIP)--has already trialed the Hitachi GPON equipment and will begin installation immediately.
Falcon Broadband says it will offer services based on GPON technology in phases throughout its coverage area starting with the Flying Horse community currently being developed by Colorado Springs-based Classic Homes. Other communities and neighborhoods within the city will follow later this year, including Latigo Trails, Ellicott Town Center, The Metro Club, Cathedral Pines, Falcon Highlands, East Brook, and Davis Ranch. The Falcon Broadband deployment also represents the first commercial deployment in the United States of GPON by a cable television operator, further cementing the concept that GPON is the technology of choice for the efficient delivery of broadband triple-play services, say Hitachi representatives.
"The fact that Hitachi has a track record of commercial service and could show us revenue-generating full-rate GPON installations was critical to our decision to deploy their product," recalls Randy DeYoung, Falcon Broadband CEO. "Our customers expect leading-edge communications services, and Hitachi's GPON system gives us the bandwidth headroom we need to add future advanced services for our subscribers."
"Hitachi is very pleased to support Falcon Broadband's initiatives in Colorado Springs," adds Rick Schiavinato, vice president of sales and marketing at Hitachi Telecom. "This is a technology-focused city that will benefit tremendously from the GPON bandwidth offered by Falcon Broadband. And as a cable TV operator, Falcon will have the ability to offer both RF video services and advanced IPTV services via their leading edge fiber optic network."
Colorado Springs, with an area population of over 587,000, is home to the United States Air Force Academy, Lockheed Martin, Oracle, Agilent, and the United States Olympic Training Center.
Hitachi says its GPON products for North America are compliant with ITU-T G.984 standards, providing assurance that service providers will have maximum flexibility in implementing FTTP architectures as applications and capabilities develop in the future.
Hitachi claims its AMN1220 product was the first full-rate GPON platform to be deployed in commercial service in the United States (Bandon, OR, in June 2006) and was the first GPON product to be certified by the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), supporting in-home networking using existing coaxial cable deployed for cable television service. In May 2007, the AMN1220 was added to the USDA Rural Utilities Service (RUS) list for use in RUS-funded broadband deployments.
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