Cable One, a leading rural market cable operator in the United States, has selected Nortel as its primary VoIP technology and professional services provider. Cable One plans to launch full-featured primary line telephony services in up to 45 markets throughout the midwestern, southern and western United States.



"Adding VoIP to the Cable One network is a major initiative," said Steve Fox, vice president, Digital Services and Technology, Cable One. "We needed a vendor with extensive deployment, integration and operations experience in the cable market as well as a PacketCable-qualified solution that delivers the unparalleled quality and reliability we demand for our customers. We are confident that Nortel's proven technology, professional services and ability to integrate multi-vendor networks will allow us meet our initial January 2006 goal of rolling out cable telephony service."

Cable One, which has more than 700,000 subscribers, has signed an agreement with Nortel to provide a complete, end-to-end VoIP solution incorporating Nortel technology and professional services. Nortel's efficient VoIP architecture will allow Cable One to consolidate switching resources to minimize capital, operating and engineering costs commonly associated with rural market network expansion. Cable One's network will feature PacketCable-qualified Nortel Communication Server (CS) 2000-Compact softswitches.

Cable One will use Nortel Global Services for planning, program management, multi-vendor integration and deployment of the VoIP solution to ensure a smooth end-to-end network implementation.

"Nortel has generated significant momentum in the global cable market by helping cable providers offer new voice, video and data services easily and cost effectively," said Dan Mondor, general manager, MSO Solutions, Nortel. "One of Nortel's key strategies in making this possible is integrating products from companies like IP Unity and Sigma Systems into our service offerings to give providers a complete cable telephony solution that addresses their current needs and grows with their businesses."

Nortel will provide Cable One with IP Unity's PacketCable-qualified Mereon 6000 Media Server and Mereon Unified Messaging application including voice mail. Cable One will also use Sigma's Service Management Platform and VoIP Service Package for end-to-end integration of billing solutions, softswitch operations, voice mail, and Cable One's competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) partners. Both the IP Unity and Sigma products have gone through systems integration with Nortel's Cable VoIP solution to reduce deployment costs.

Cable One has a long-standing relationship with Nortel and is using a Nortel IP converged solution throughout its corporate and regional offices for seamless, scalable, real-time business communications.

"Nortel has been a valuable partner in building our internal voice and data communications network as well as in helping us strengthen our services for subscribers," Fox said. "IP telephony is a key component of our corporate network strategy, and implementing these solutions from Nortel allows us to capitalize on prior investments as we move forward into IP telephony technology."

Nortel ranked number one in the global markets for service provider softswitches and gateways for the entire year of 2004 and for the first quarter of 2005, according to Synergy Research Group.

The majority of cable operators around the world who have chosen to build their own VoIP networks have chosen Nortel, including Adelphia, Cable Onda, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Dacom, Intercable, ish, Kabel BW, Rogers Cable, Shaw Cablesystems, TeleCable and Telenet.