BRUSSELS – October 16, 2012 – Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) today announced that Belgian service provider Numéricable has selected the Calix E7-2 Ethernet Service Access Platform (ESAP) and gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology to upgrade its service delivery platform in Belgium and Luxembourg. Calix, along with optical specialist Arcadiz Telecom, will work closely to roll out Numéricable’s new high-speed broadband networks to deliver business services across the region. The new platform will enable Numéricable’s customers to take advantage of advanced voice, video, and data services at symmetrical speeds ranging from 30 megabits per second (30 Mbps) up to 1 gigabit per second (1 Gbps).
Numéricable serves over 150,000 customers in Brussels with triple-play services for residential subscribers. Owned by Coditel and with a close relationship to the French Numéricable organization, with whom it shares a range of resources, Numéricable Belgium is a long-established operator with a highly dispersed coax cable network. The company has traditionally delivered triple-play residential services over its hybrid fiber coax infrastructure, but in recent years has moved increasingly towards using its fiber to connect businesses and has developed a number of specific niche markets. The company is now looking at ways to maximize the potential of its fiber infrastructure in Belgium and Luxembourg and deliver revenue-generating advanced services to its business customers.
Numéricable has over 1000 business customers, including over 90 percent of all the hotels in Europe’s capital city, Brussels. Accordingly, the hospitality sector will be one of the first to benefit from Calix-based GPON technology. Numéricable’s network will enable hotels to offer high-speed Internet services and IP telephony alongside the traditional analogue television services in guest rooms, including personalized and interactive TV services.
“We already have an extensive fiber network and large customer base, but the Calix GPON solution will significantly increase the number of customers we can connect over each fiber deployed. This will result in a dramatic reduction in the costs, which we are then able to pass on,” says Wim De Naeyer, Numéricable’s Chief Financial Officer. “We estimate that our services will be around one-third of the price of other telecoms operators in Belgium and Luxembourg. The better usage of our fiber not only gives us the business model that enables us to deploy the services extremely competitively in the market, it also allows us to deploy these high-end business services in quantity across the business sector, where high-speed communications are rapidly becoming indispensible. We are starting with the hotel sector, but we expect to roll this out quickly into areas such as banking and the legal community. The continuous support and expertise of Arcadiz, coupled with the quality, simplicity, and scalability of the Calix FTTx solutions, were decisive elements in our selection process.”
Arcadiz Telecom, with core expertise in optical networking, designed the solution and partnered with Calix for the deployment of the network, as well as for the comprehensive maintenance and support of Numéricable’s FTTx network, including a 24x7 hotline for its business customers. Arcadiz Telecom provides Numéricable with the required multilingual professional services and optical consultancy, assuring a fast introduction of the new platform. "Our partnership with Calix is key to our FTTx network strategy and we are delighted that Numéricable has recognized the value that our combined strengths can deliver," said Jos Vermeylen, Arcadiz's managing director.
Numéricable is leveraging the Calix E7-2 ESAP and GPON technology to deliver advanced business services over one fiber, significantly reducing deployment costs. Armed with Calix solutions, Numéricable’s advanced networks are capable of supporting GPON and point-to-point gigabit Ethernet technology to deliver world-class broadband services, including Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and RF video, on-demand audio and video, IP telephony, instant messaging, and broadband speeds of up to 1 Gbps over fiber. For businesses, this opens the possibilities of interactive and high-definition digital video streaming, allowing video conferencing and video surveillance applications. It will also support multi-site connectivity enabling LAN-to-LAN and VPN networks and high-speed data communications and file transfer and enabling extensive use of the cloud.
Andy Lockhart, senior vice president of international sales and marketing at Calix said, “Numéricable is an excellent example of a cable operator that is seizing the capabilities and opportunities of fiber and expanding to deliver advanced services to the business community. It is an exciting company to work with as it has a clear vision for the future and an excellent understanding of the drivers within the business community. We look forward to working closely with them as they build out this network and respond to customer demand for advanced, innovative services throughout Belgium and Luxembourg.”
To find out more about Calix and its work with Numéricable, please visit Calix at the following major events taking place the week of October 15:
Broadband World Forum at the RAI Exhibition Centre in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Booth D14, October 16-18.
SCTE Cable-Tec Expo’12 at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL, Booth 633, October 17-19.
