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Press
Release
March 15, 2004 - Wave7 Optics Selected for New Fiber-to-the-Home Network in
Crawfordsville, Indiana
Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power (CEL&P) to Pass 9500
Homes and Businesses by 2Q 2005
Atlanta, GA – March 15, 2004 – Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power today
announced that Wave7 Optics has won the network equipment bid for their new
optical broadband (fiber-to-the-home) network, which has an estimated cost of
$18M and is slated to begin service in 3Q 2004. CEL&P is connecting homes off an
existing “backbone” fiber route installed for intramural and governmental
communications.
“We began putting the plans together three years ago to offer advanced
communication services to Crawfordsville because this project will help
Crawfordsville compete nationally in terms of economic development, will improve
the reliability and availability of communication services and give the
residents of the area a choice of service providers,” said Roy E. Kaser, Manager
of CEL&P.
Wave7 Optics will provide the Last Mile Core™ switching and transport system for
installation in head-end and central office type facilities and in the field,
the Last Mile Gateway™ for premises installations and the Last Mile Sentinel™
for network monitoring and quality assurance purposes. This will be a new
network installation to deliver competitive services for high-speed Internet
access (in excess of 512 Kbps) and will be one of the first in the U.S. to offer
“IPTV” (Internet Protocol television).
IPTV is an innovative way of converting video and audio signals into packets and
transmitting them over the IP network to subscribers. IPTV allows an unlimited
number of channels to be offered when used with Wave7 Optics high-speed
symmetrical network and creates a high-speed back channel, which opens the way
for exciting interactive services, such as video-on-demand, interactive games
and pay-per-view services.
“Our Last Mile Link system can provide IPTV services on a multicast or unicast
basis to minimize resource utilization,” said Tom Tighe, CEO of Wave7 Optics.
“Furthermore, remote provisioning and programming capabilities ensure that a
customer’s set-top box is always up-to-date with the most recent software and
program guide.”
“We evaluated several manufacturers based on many elements including but not
limited to: quality of workforce, financial condition, project experience and
technical merit. Given CEL&P’s desires to maximize benefit to the community
while minimizing the total cost of ownership, Wave7 put together a technically
superior and cost-effective package," said Scott Bowles, President of Spectrum
Engineering, a professional services firm assisting CEL&P with equipment,
construction and financing bids and project management for this project.
About Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power
Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power (CEL&P) is a community-owned electric
utility serving approximately 9,500 residential, commercial and industrial
customers in Crawfordsville, Ind. and the surrounding area. Crawfordsville is
located 48 miles west of Indianapolis on Interstate 74 in West Central, Ind. As
the oldest municipal electric utility in Indiana, CEL&P has often been a pioneer
in serving its customers and has consistently provided extremely reliable
electric service and very affordable rates since 1890. The utility continually
receives high ratings in customer satisfaction and has been a catalyst for local
economic development. The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network operates as a
division of CEL&P and will provide the utility and the community a competitive
advantage for attracting and retaining businesses as well as the highly skilled
workforce needed in the information age. For more information, please visit
their Web site at www.celp.com.
About Spectrum Engineering Corporation
Spectrum Engineering Corporation is in its 25th year of providing professional
engineering services for municipal electric companies. These services include
strategic planning, engineering studies, engineering design for transmission,
distribution and substation, project and construction management, testing and
commissioning.
Spectrum’s purpose is to provide service, which yields the greatest benefit to
its clients and their customers, at the most economical cost. They are dedicated
to quality and regularly apply their research, analytical, design, construction
management, testing and commissioning skills to build long-term win/win client
partnerships and a work environment that values employee innovation, teamwork
and pride. Spectrum is committed to proving their reputation as a knowledgeable,
dependable, resourceful partner in helping their clients to achieve their goals.
For more information, please visit their Web site at www.spectrumeng.com
About Wave7 Optics
Wave7 Optics, Inc. is a market leader in the fiber-to-the-home and -business (FTTX)
optical access market. The company's Last Mile LinkŪ optical access system
effectively overcomes the cost and implementation barriers that have to date
stymied the deployment of FTTX systems.
Wave7 Optics has pioneered the first intelligent PON (passive optical network)
system, which is effectively a generation ahead of comparable PON technologies
in both cost and capability. For instance, the “OLT” (optical line terminal)
equivalent can be deployed either in the field or central office and the Last
Mile Link uses lower cost IP- (Internet Protocol) and Ethernet-standards based
components to provide a "triple play" of voice, video and very high-speed data
services to residential, business and multi-tenant or multi-dwelling building
customers. The Last Mile Link offers service providers a particular advantage
with regards to video in that it is the only platform that supports upstream RF
return signals and readily accommodates HDTV.
The company was named a "Hot Start Up" company for 2003 by two of the world's
leading trade journals -- America's Network and Telecommunications.
For more information please contact emmanuel.vella@w7optics.com.
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