SUWANEE, Ga. and SAN JOSE, Calif. - June 26, 2008 - ARRIS and Cisco unveiled Tuesday their joint proposal for the technical criteria supporting multi-wavelength optical networks at the SCTE technical committee. With the wide variety of solutions being offered across the supplier community, ARRIS and Cisco believe these technical criteria will help operators receive robust, reliable and cost effective system solutions. The solutions being offered by both companies will help enable expanded optical transport capacity for existing HFC networks or within Greenfield deployments. More information on these systems is available at their respective booths (ARRIS: 2050 and Cisco: 550) at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo.

"This collaboration demonstrates the industry coming together to work toward a common goal of standardization. By identifying the limitations and common solutions for multi-wavelength transmission, we are improving cost efficiencies and paving the way for interoperability," said Mark Palazzo, vice president, general manager, Cisco Access Networks. "With so many parts involved, standardization helps us achieve commonality, fueling the continued growth and evolution of the industry."

"We are hoping to generate open standards-based products and solutions that support cable as it competes with telco and satellite providers," said John Caezza, president of ARRIS Access, Transport & Supplies. "When vendors work together to lower the costs of technology and speed its time-to-market, then the entire industry wins."