Texas ILECs pick Allied Telesyn CWDM platform for rural triple play expansion

June 7, 2005 Bothell, WA --Allied Telesyn today announced that Livingston Telephone (LivTel), a Texas ILEC, is using the company's LightExplorer CWDM optical transport platform to expand triple play services to Lake Livingston Telephone, a smaller, neighboring carrier.

LivTel says the enhanced fiber connection allows it to deploy premium IP video services to the smaller ILEC. Currently, the two carriers are connected by a single, existing fiber pair, over which Lake Livingston Telephone has been receiving telephone and high-speed Internet services. The carriers say the optical transport platform effectively quadruples the available bandwidth over that pair, enabling Lake Livingston to take advantage of LivTel's video head-end and next-generation video services. Alternatives, such as trenching new fiber or building a new head-end, would have cost LivTel as much as $700K, according to a press release.

"Thanks to LightExplorer technology, we can increase video and data services without the cost of running new fiber," confirms Curt Walzel, president and CEO of Livingston Telephone. "It's a valuable competitive advantage, as we bring Lake Livingston online, and look toward similar deals with other local ILECs."

Allied Telesyn says its 1-rack unit, 8-slot LightExplorer platform is aimed at carriers, large enterprises, government applications, and can dramatically increase bandwidth over existing or limited fiber. According to the company, with multi-service transport up to 80-km and the ability to accommodate multiple services and protocols within a single fiber pair, the platform's hot-swappable, modular line-card design enables easy expansion and migration. The company says each line card is capable of speeds from 100 Mbit/sec to 2.7Gbit/sec, and may employ either speed-specific or multi-rate SFP transceivers.

"It simplifies the network, it increases capacity, it limits costs - CWDM is the best way to extend the life of a network exponentially. In the case of Livingston Telephone, it's allowing them to grow their business without a huge outlay of capex," contends Philip Yim, Allied Telesyn's executive vice president of marketing and product development. "LightExplorer adds modularity and flexibility to that mix, because it supports legacy protocols at the same time as it helps them to transition to an end-to-end IP network - all over a single fiber pair."