Calix, a North American provider of broadband communications access systems, has stated that Barbourville Utility Commission and the Russellville Electric Plant Board will be using Calix (News - Alert) E7 Ethernet Service Access Platform and the Calix 700GX/700GE ONT portfolio to offer advanced video and broadband access in rural Kentucky. 

 

According to officials, both the utilities have moved "Fiber Forward" to their respective communities, leveraging the E7 and 700GX/GE family of optical network terminals to deliver both gigabit passive optical network and active Ethernet technologies to residences and businesses enabling subscribers to receive up to one gigabit per second delivered directly to the premises. Municipalities have also planned to deliver services like IPTV (News - Alert), traditional radio frequency cable services, and ultra high-speed broadband services. 

 

Barbourville UC which is located at the southeast corner of Kentucky has deployed the Calix E7 ESAP and 724GX and 721GE ONTs, leveraging its existing cable that has been headed across the same fiber to the premises infrastructure to deliver advanced broadband services.

 

Director of Barbourville UC, Josh Callihan has stated that the Calix Unified Access portfolio enables them to run their cable TV system over fiber using standards-based GPON. Barbourville UC can now provide quality HDTV and ultra high-speed Internet access more reliably and at a fraction of the cost of pulling hybrid fiber coaxial.

 

Russellville EPB which is in southwestern Kentucky has stated that they conducted an extensive search for a "future-proof" fiber access infrastructure to upgrade its infrastructure in order to meet the multiplying service demands of the community. The key factors that distinguished the Calix fiber access solution from other competitors were scalability, non-blocking architecture, flexibility, and broad portfolio of Calix ONTs. 

 

Systems Analyst of Russellville EPB, Ryan Coleman asserted that they were torn between Active Ethernet and GPON, but by seeing the Calix auto-detecting ONTs supported both without a truck roll, eliminated the concerns they had over technology. With the move of a fiber jumper, Russellville EPB are now able to deploy either GPON or Active Ethernet out of the same optical line terminal and ONT to any given customer premises. 

 

Vice President of Field Operations at Calix, John Colvin has remarked that the Barbourville UC and Russellville EBP municipalities have been taking initiatives to leverage their existing subscriber relationships and deliver the new utility service such as fiber-enabled broadband. Calix is really proud to be working with both Barbourville UC and Russellville EPB to bring advanced entertainment and broadband services to these bandwidth-hungry communities in rural Kentucky.  

 

Calix presented at investor conferences and Calix's Unified Access portfolio for fiber access initiatives.