Gila River Telecommunications chooses Metro-Optix multiservice platform

January, 21, 2003 - Gila River Telecommunications, Inc. (GRTI) announced today it has deployed the Metro-Optix CityStream 5000 multi-service provisioning platform in its network. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This agreement is a byproduct of the optical bandwidth manager gaining "RUS Acceptance" and "Buy American" status from the Rural Utilities Service branch of the United States Department of Agriculture last September. Because Metro-Optix is on the RUS List of Acceptable Materials, it allowed GRTI to use RUS Loan Funds to purchase and deploy CityStream 5000. This key strategic win for Metro-Optix also came as a result of a required RUS bid process in which Metro-Optix beat out one large, foreign incumbent vendor and another large, well-known US vendor.

Based in Chandler, AZ, GRTI was established in 1988 for the purpose of providing the Gila River Indian Community with telephone service and other telecommunications services. Today, GRTI offers customers business phone, Internet, cellular (Verizon Wireless) and satellite (Dish Network) services. GRTI currently has more than 3,600 lines, including business, residence and private circuits. Approximately 48% of these are business lines. GRTI's telecommunications system currently consists of eight central offices and 117 miles of fiber-optic cable and 342 miles of buried copper cable.

"We are very pleased to be working with Metro-Optix," said Derek White, operations manager at Gila River. "CityStream's ATM and VT switching flexibility and port density gives us the platforms we need to grow and evolve our network so we can continue to provide our customers with economic, advanced networking."

Metro-Optix (Allen, TX) develops next generation multi-protocol SONET switching and transport systems. These products serve metropolitan access and transport networks for carrier, service provider, and enterprise applications. The CityStream 5000 can provide optical networking, ADM, DCS, ATM SAM, ATM edge switch and eventually IP router functionality with the ability to efficiently partition bandwidth between TDM, ATM and IP. It also supports interfaces at rates of DS-3 to OC-192 with a backplane that's been tested to support OC-768.

"We sought RUS approval specifically because of key independent service providers like Gila River," said Dave Orr, president and chief executive officer, Metro- Optix. "We believe there are many more independent [telecommunications providers] who can also leverage government funding to take advantage of the unique solution we offer in terms of the size, speed, and functionality."

Among CityStream's applications are ring aggregation, mesh topology, point-of-presence bandwidth management, high density STS and VT level grooming and transmultiplexing, service access multiplexing, DSLAM aggregation, ATM edge switching and IP routing.