Scottsdale, AZ-based incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) Saddleback Communications has deployed the E7-20 Ethernet Service Access Platform (ESAP) from Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) in a point-to-point Gigabit Ethernet network that serves businesses and residents in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
Saddleback already was a Calix customer, having also deployed the transport systems vendor’s C7 Multiservice Access Platform (MSAP), E7-2 ESAP, and 700GE family of optical network terminals (ONTs) within its 85-sq-mi footprint that combines fiber and copper technologies. Calix says Saddleback has aggressively upgraded its infrastructure over the past dozen years, to the point where the community has gone from no broadband service and only 75% wireline voice coverage to 100% availability of high-speed data and voice services. It now supports over 3,000 residential access lines and serves more than 350 business customers, some of which are either global and national in scope.
"Our community has blossomed in the past several years, as we have introduced DSL, and then fiber, to the area which has attracted a number of businesses, including spring training baseball stadiums, large corporate offices for national brands, and the local casino," said Shane Gregory, director of operations for Saddleback Communications. "We have partnered with Calix throughout this network transformation, which has helped us keep up with the latest technologies and become more operationally efficient. As we introduce the E7-20 into our network, the platform's flexibility will allow us to roll out a wide variety of new services over fiber, while still giving us capacity to continue to grow well into the future."
As it has seen its business customer base grow, Saddleback has responded with a complete network overhaul five years ago, and subsequent extensions of its fiber access network. The deployment of the E7-20 is the latest step in the process, Calix reports. Saddleback also plans to continue to bring point-to-point Gigabit Ethernet into residential areas, the systems house adds.
Said John Colvin, Calix senior vice president of North American sales and marketing, "Specialized business services are a huge potential source of revenues for our service provider customers across the country. Companies like Saddleback Communications, who are committed to delivering targeted services and packages for their business subscribers also drive economic development opportunities to their communities by attracting new businesses to the area, while also bringing in these new revenue streams."
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