IBC2005, AMSTERDAM - September 9, 2005 - Leading independent telecommunications holding company SureWest Communications (NASDAQ: SURW), a Cisco Powered Network (CPN) member, is enhancing its ability to develop and deliver advanced IP video services over a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network with the Cisco® IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) reference architecture featuring Cisco Catalyst® 4500 and 6500 Series switches. SureWest, a leading provider of local telephone, long distance, Internet, wireless, digital TV and commercial high-speed data services in the Sacramento, Calif. region, currently delivers more than 250 channels of video and music to its subscribers, with both 10 and 20 megabit-per-second (mbps) options for Internet service and voice.
With steady growth since its inception as a regional telephone provider in 1914, SureWest currently passes over 80,000 marketable homes with its FTTH network and serves approximately 18,000 FTTH subscribers with digital voice, video and high-speed data service. SureWest's FTTH service is currently growing by approximately 500 subscribers per month. The company also has more than 50,000 wireless subscribers, 145,000 total access lines and 650,000 voice-grade-equivalent (VGE) access lines. Cisco Catalyst switches give SureWest the flexibility, scalability, security and stability it needs to maintain and further increase its rapid growth.
"We are committed to meeting customer demand for advanced telecommunications services," said Bill DeMuth, vice president and chief technology officer, SureWest Communications. "Using advanced technology to deliver these services over a single IP-based network lets us grow quickly and cost-effectively. Having an open-architected, standards-based solution that enables us to supply reliable, flexible and scalable services is critical, and Cisco meets that need."
SureWest has deployed Cisco Catalyst 4510 and 6509 switches to enable delivery of these advanced video services. The Catalyst 4510 switches (providing 1550/1310 bi-directional single-fiber connectivity) deliver 100MB bi-directional Ethernet to SureWest's residential customers. The Catalyst 4510 switches are located in remote cabinets in residential neighborhoods and are connected to a primary hub housing Catalyst 6509 switches. The uplink connection is currently Gigabit Ethernet, but as deployment densities increase, both the Catalyst 4510 and Catalyst 6509 switches will be upgraded to 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The primary hubs are connected upstream to the primary core locations, which also house Catalyst 6509 switches.
Cisco helps service providers overcome the main challenges associated with delivering video services - reaching millions of subscribers in a cost-effective manner with an enhanced customer experience. The Cisco portfolio of products and services ranges from core switching, routing and optical transport to aggregation and access routers and switches and home residential gateways. Combined with application-layer policy and control services, Cisco provides the IP video architecture needed to meet and exceed today's and tomorrow's video service goals.
"SureWest has been exceptionally progressive in the development of its fiber-to-the-home network, and the services it delivers over it," said Jeff Spagnola, vice president of service provider marketing, Cisco. "Cisco strongly believes that customers will increasingly demand these advanced services, and we are committed to working with providers like SureWest to enable their development and delivery."
About SureWest Communications
With 90 years in Northern California, SureWest and its family of companies together provide a wide variety of highly reliable advanced communications products and services. SureWest provides digital TV, fiber optics, PCS wireless, DSL, high-speed Internet access, data transport, local and long distance telephone service, and directories with the highest standards of customer care. For more information, visit the SureWest web site at www.surewest.com.
