August 24, 2004 Plano, TX--Alcatel has signed a contract with Paducah Power System, a municipally owned electric distribution utility service in Kentucky, to expand their fiber-optic backbone with Alcatel's fiber-to-the-user (FTTU) and OmniSwitch enterprise data infrastructure products. This is Alcatel's second FTTU deployment in Kentucky.
With the deployment of additional fiber, along with the 7340 FTTU and OmniSwitch products, Paducah will meet growing internal communications needs, such as SCADA, and expand high speed data, voice, and video capabilities to area businesses. The new network will help to drive economic growth in the region by attracting new investments and improving the quality of life in the communities it serves.
The 7340 platform, using standards-based broadband passive optical networking (BPON) technology, supports the triple play of services as well as emerging high-bandwidth services such as on-line gaming, music downloads, video-on-demand and high definition television. The OmniSwitch is a platform for providing businesses with the high availability for non-stop services and multi-layer security for trusted communications. Paducah will deploy the OmniSwitch product family to deliver next generation Gigabit Ethernet services to its power substations. All substations, connected via redundant Gigabit Ethernet links, will also be used to transport voice, video, data, and multimedia services for Paducah's FTTU network.
"Paducah Power System is committed to providing an advanced communications infrastructure to the markets we serve," said David Clark, general manager of Paducah Power System. "Alcatel is able to provide Paducah Power System with end-to-end solutions for multiple applications, backed by the support and expertise that we expect of a technology leader."
Paducah Power System serves approximately two-thirds of all residents within McCracken County, Kentucky including the City of Paducah. Geographically, Paducah Power System's service area covers 47 square miles with 22,500 total residential, commercial and industrial customers.
Alcatel has multiple FTTU deployments in North America and has been involved in several FTTU field trials with operators in the Asia Pacific region.