Silver Star Selects EXA Powered Calix E7 for Two Broadband Stimulus Projects

August 10, 2011
The E7-20 Multi-Terabit ESAP to Bring Advanced Broadband Services to Rural Wyoming and Idaho

PETALUMA, CA, Aug 10, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --

Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) today announced that two-time Broadband Stimulus award winner Silver Star Telephone Company (Silver Star) has selected the EXA Powered Calix E7 Ethernet Services Access Platform (ESAP) to bring advanced broadband services to residences, businesses, and community anchor institutions in northern Wyoming and southern Idaho. The two comprehensive community infrastructure projects will enhance the broadband network opportunities in 16 counties and dozens of rural communities in the region. Both projects will leverage the E7 ESAP, including the E7-20 multi-terabit ESAP and modular E7-2 ESAP, as well as the 700GE family of optical network terminals (ONTs) to provide advanced voice, internet protocol television (IPTV), and ultra high-speed data services of up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) and transport services of 10 Gbps, to as many as 12,000 premises in the region. The two projects, made possible by two awards from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA's) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), will leverage nearly $13.6 million in grants and matching private investments, of which only a portion is access equipment.

"These projects fill a gap that had historically limited the broadband opportunities available to the citizens, businesses, and institutions on the Wyoming and Idaho border," said Ron McCue, COO of Silver Star. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect the region to the rest of Wyoming's fiber optic network and increase the capacity, reliability and speed with which we communicate. We have been searching for viable ways to close this gap for years, and the combination of these funds and the technology and expertise of our long-time partner Calix will allow us to bring our vision of broadband opportunity for this region to fruition."

The two awarded projects will leverage nearly $10.7 million in grants and $2.9 million in matching funds, of which only a portion is for access equipment. For these projects, Silver Star will pull a combined total of 127 miles of fiber optic cable to enable services to as many as 10,200 households, 1900 businesses, and a wide variety of community anchor institutions. The E7 ESAPs utilized will enable the delivery of advanced voice, data, and IPTV services using gigabit passive optical network (GPON), Active Ethernet (AE), and point-to-point gigabit Ethernet (GE) technologies, and 10 gigabit Ethernet for robust and reliable access transport services.

Silver Star is one of the first Calix customers to deploy the E7-20 multi-terabit ESAP, a high capacity, low latency, all-fiber access concentrator designed for an all-video world. Architected to meet the needs of the next generation Internet where high bandwidth Internet protocol (IP) video streams proliferate and are delivered over fiber access infrastructure, the E7-20 is a two terabits per second (Tbps) access concentrator with the capacity to symmetrically deliver 100 Gbps of non-blocking, fully redundant throughput to each of its 20 universal line card slots. Silver Star is deploying the E7-20 along with the E7-2 and 700GE family of ONTs with auto-detect capabilities across both of its Broadband Stimulus awards, and using the Calix Management System (CMS) to provision and manage the delivery of advanced broadband services across GPON, AE, and point-to-point GE to its subscribers.

"We would like to congratulate Silver Star on its two Broadband Stimulus awards, and on its bold aspirations to bring advanced broadband opportunity to one of the nation's most scenic, but also most rural areas," said John Colvin, vice president of field operations at Calix. "Calix is proud to be a key partner to Silver Star in bringing the opportunity for advanced broadband services to northern Wyoming and southern Idaho, and we look forward to working together to make these critical regional projects a reality."

With today's announcement, aggregate Calix vendor selections by Broadband Stimulus winners for "last mile" and "middle mile" awards have now reached 63 different projects representing approximately $1.2 billion in Stimulus-related grants, loans, and private investment for plant engineering, materials, labor, and other costs, including access equipment.

About Calix

Calix (NYSE: CALX) is a global leader in access innovation. Its Unified Access portfolio of broadband communications access systems and software enable communications service providers worldwide to be the broadband provider of choice to their subscribers. For more information, visit the Calix website at www.calix.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are based upon management's current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this release, and we assume no obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking statement to reflect any event or circumstance after the date of this release, except as required by law. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from current expectations based on risks and uncertainties affecting the Company's business. The reader is cautioned not to unduly rely on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Additional information on potential factors that could affect Calix's results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in its report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 25, 2011, filed with the SEC on July 22, 2011, available at http://www.sec.gov.