Grande Communications chooses Laurel Networks for massive FTTH deployment

April 5, 2005 Pittsburgh, PA -- Laurel Networks today announced that Grande Communications, a major provider of bundled broadband services in Texas, has deployed the company's ST50 Broadband Routing Platform to support the rollout of FTTH technology to millions of locations throughout the state of Texas. According to a press release, the platform enables the provider with the flexibility it requires to economically and reliably deliver advanced broadband services to include data, voice, and video.

Grande Communications provides residential and business customers with a single network for high-speed Internet, local and long-distance telephone, digital cable, and wireless security services. According to the release, the company is building its high capacity fiber-optic network from the ground up, using the latest technological advancements in broadband communications.

"By deploying FTTH, we can build our network much faster, use 80% less equipment, and install only one line to the home instead of two," explains Joe Ross, president of Grande Communications. "Laurel uniquely addressed our business needs by adding a feature to the ST50 Broadband Routing platform that allows us to recognize and separate high-speed data traffic from set-top box (digital receiver) traffic."

Laurel says its ST-series broadband platform offers high bandwidth-per-subscriber, advanced QoS, carrier-class availability, flexibility, and integrated routing and switching, enabling broadband service providers to cost-efficiently evolve beyond basic Internet service to services such as voice over IP, video-on-demand, and IP VPNs.

"This deployment will push Grande Communications to the forefront of delivering the high-throughput services desired by today's network-savvy, yet budget-conscious consumer," concludes Steve Vogelsang, Laurel's vice president of marketing and co-founder.