Calix Announces Expansion of Residential and Business Ethernet Fiber Access Solutions

PETALUMA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Calix, Inc (NYSE:CALX) today announced the availability of three major expansions to its fiber access solutions, which bring industry-leading port density, increased flexibility, and new residential and business solutions to the Calix Unified Access portfolio:

“The combination of the high density GE-24 line card on the E7 with the rich AE feature set delivered with 700GE and 760GX ONT families creates a powerful portfolio of options for communications service providers to leverage”

Higher Density: The new GE-24 line card for the E7 Ethernet Service Access Platform (ESAP) brings industry-leading 24-port gigabit Ethernet (GE) port density and increased deployment flexibility to this widely adopted, modular platform.
Expanded Ethernet Services Support: The expansion of residential Active Ethernet (AE) and business point-to-point gigabit Ethernet (GE) support across all 700GE and 760GX optical network terminals (ONTs) augments existing gigabit passive optical network (GPON) support on all ONTs and adds pseudowire emulation edge-to-edge 3 (PWE3) T1/E1 circuit emulation.
New Indoor ONT: The 716GE-I ONT, the first indoor ONT designed by Calix, supports all of our valued features, including the ability to auto-detect GPON and Active Ethernet, full line rate GE support, voice activated remote ONT activation (RONTA), and a wide temperature range for enhanced deployment flexibility.

With more density, expanded AE and point-to-point GE services support, and more options added to the industry’s broadest ONT portfolio, Calix continues to enhance the fiber access portfolio deployed by more US communications service providers than any other vendor, and provide its customers with the tools to move “Fiber Forward” in their networks.

“We chose to deploy dedicated gigabit Ethernet over fiber to residences and businesses in the communities we serve because we wanted the maximal flexibility in providing services to customers both now and in the future, and with Calix’s new enhancements to its Active Ethernet portfolio we believe that we now have the tools to make this vision a reality,” said Dennis Hansel, assistant general manager of United Communications in Langdon, North Dakota. “Our serving areas are extremely varied in terms of subscriber density, and the combination of the modularity of the E7, with its ability to efficiently address low line counts in rural parts of our network, and now, with the GE-24 line cards, to scale up to extremely high densities in town, really provides us with a portfolio of flexible options. In addition, new ONT options like the indoor ONT and advanced business Ethernet support allow us tremendous flexibility in optimizing our operations and revenue opportunities – putting us in a position to make our ‘Fiber Forward’ business model a success.”

New GE-24 line card brings industry-leading density and flexibility to the E7 ESAP

With anywhere from 8 to 24 GE ports present on each of the four line cards available, and over 100 customers already deploying the platform after just two quarters of availability, the E7 ESAP has rapidly become the AE-capable solution deployed by more North American service provides than any other. The new GE-24 line card now doubles the AE deployment density available in each two-slot E7 chassis to 48 ports per rack unit (RU) through the use of the latest, standards-based, dual-port compact small form factor pluggable (CSFP) ports. In addition to industry-leading density, the new GE-24 line card raises the bar in deployment flexibility by adopting the most recent revision of the CSFP Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) standard “Option 2,” which allows small form factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers to be used in addition to CSFP transceivers. A “must have” feature for communications services providers deploying AE, “Option 2” enables dramatically increased flexibility through simultaneous support for both standard reach (CSFP transceivers can reach out to 20 kilometers) and long reach (SFP transceivers can reach out to 80 kilometers) applications on the same GE-24 line card. This flexibility extends to the chassis, as each E7 ESAP modular chassis can be deployed in 8, 12, and 24 port increments per slot – naturally expanding to deliver up to 480 AE ports when deployed as a 10 RU modular chassis with a single IP address. This flexibility enables a true “pay-as-you-grow” architecture, and is supported by a backplane that can deliver 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) of traffic to each slot, making the E7 ESAP a powerful vehicle for residential AE and commercial point-to-point GE deployments.

New advanced Ethernet residential and business services support creates new revenue opportunities over fiber

Residential AE and point-to-point GE support on the 700GE and 760X ONT families brings new advanced Ethernet support to fiber-based Ethernet and GPON deployments. All 700GE ONTs and the 760GX family of ONTs are now fully supported by the E7 for both GPON and AE services. Along with this functionality, the 766GX and 767GX business ONTs now support PWE3 T1/E1 services for pseudowire dedicated circuit emulation.

New Calix indoor ONT raises the bar for operational efficiency and flexibility inside the customer premises

The new 716GE-I ONT brings a host of Calix differentiated ONT features inside the home. Its elegant yet flexible design has four GE ports and two telephone service (POTS) ports and can be easily deployed on a desk, wall, or in a structured wiring enclosure. The 716GE-I ONT also delivers all the most powerful features of the 700GE family of ONTs, including full line rate GE support, RONTA, and support for a wide temperature range to enhance deployment flexibility. The new unit also features auto-detect technology, allowing it to automatically recognize and synchronize to both AE and GPON technologies, providing strong investment protection and flexibility.

“The combination of the high density GE-24 line card on the E7 with the rich AE feature set delivered with 700GE and 760GX ONT families creates a powerful portfolio of options for communications service providers to leverage,” said Kevin Pope, senior vice president of product development at Calix. “AE for residential applications and point-to-point GE for business applications continues to gain momentum across our customer base, both as a stand-alone architectural choice and as a complement to GPON deployments. Our goal has always been to allow our customers to seamlessly deploy the most appropriate fiber access technology for their specific deployment scenario, and we believe in the long run that this flexibility will play a key role in making their deployments successful.”

The E7 with GE-24 line cards and the 716GE-I indoor ONT -- as well as the entire Calix Unified Access portfolio of fiber access solutions – will be on display at the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Conference and Expo September 13-15 at Calix Booth 500 at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

About Calix

Calix is a leading provider in North America of broadband communications access systems and software for copper- and fiber- based network architectures that enable communications service providers to connect to their residential and business subscribers. Calix has shipped over seven million ports of its Unified Access Infrastructure portfolio to more than 500 North American and international customers, whose networks serve over 40 million subscriber lines in total.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are based upon management’s current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this release and we assume no obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking statement to reflect any event or circumstance after the date of this release, except as required by law. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from current expectations, based on risks and uncertainties affecting the Company's business. The reader is cautioned not to unduly rely on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Additional information on potential factors that could affect Calix’s results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in its report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 26, 2010, filed with the SEC on July 23, 2010, available at http://www.sec.gov.