Contact Information: Contact: Carol Daniels Metaswitch Networks +1 (510) 589-5074 chd@Metaswitch.com Carmen A. Harris Connect2 Communications +1 (919) 554-3532 ext. 5 carmen@connect2comm.com
Montanans Quick to Discover Value in More Buried Treasure
| Source: Metaswitch Networks
BILLINGS, MT--(Marketwire - December 2, 2009) - 28th Annual MTA Showcase -- With an abundance
of natural resources, Montana has always been known as the Treasure State.
And judging by the investments being made by an active community of
regional local exchange carriers, Montanans will continue to benefit from a
new form of in-ground assets: fiber optics. With more than 9,000 miles of
fiber optics already installed, Montana's incumbent carriers have pushed
broadband capabilities to the edges of their networks, often reaching
nearly one hundred percent of their business and residential customers.
Complementing this high speed infrastructure are products from Metaswitch
Networks that are being used to help deliver a comprehensive range of
broadband telephony applications.
Both Range Telephone Cooperative and 3 Rivers Communications have recently
teamed up with Metaswitch. With over 1,000 miles of fiber, connecting
nearly all of the Range family's 39 exchanges, plus current and future
builds to homes and businesses in those areas, Range was well suited to
deliver Metaswitch's sophisticated telephony applications to over 28,000
subscribers throughout southeastern Montana and Wyoming. 3 Rivers
Communications will replace its legacy Nortel equipment with a Metaswitch
solution to power its core network infrastructure.
The need for a scalable, reliable and highly-featured voice over IP
platform drove Ron Warnick, the director of technology and network
operations for 3 Rivers Communications, to take a closer look at
Metaswitch. "Not only can we start to replace our legacy switching
equipment, but their MetaSphere platform also allows us to cost-effectively
deliver a staggering range of business and residential services to our
customers. These applications and services are usually only found in large
metropolitan areas."
Metaswitch's distributed switching architecture was an important factor for
the Range family once it came time to choose a vendor. According to chief
technology officer, Tim Green, "The Metaswitch distributed architecture
will allow Range to collapse three independent legacy networks into a
single corporate switching network allowing for an easy transition from its
current host-remote scenario to a next generation switching architecture."
This is no small feat in Big Sky Country. America's fourth largest state,
Montana ranks only 44th by population, with average customer density less
than three access lines per mile. The impressive broadband penetration
across such a challenging geography has been achieved before any stimulus
funding, further highlighting a keen focus on cost-effective deployments
with long term viability. It seems as though Metaswitch meets those
requirements regularly. Citing over 200 independent operating companies as
customers, Metaswitch is helping a large portion of the rural telecom
community reduce costs in the central office while providing their
customers with the most advanced telephony applications.
About Metaswitch Networks
Metaswitch Networks is a leading provider of carrier systems and software
solutions that are powering the migration of communications networks to
open, packet-based architectures. Hundreds of network operators worldwide
depend on its Carrier Systems Division for reliable, scalable session
control, media gateway and application/feature server solutions to enable
compelling revenue-generating services. Its Network Protocols Division
develops high performance, portable software components that are integrated
into the products of the world's leading communications equipment
manufacturers. For more information, please visit www.metaswitch.com.
Copyright © 2009 Metaswitch Networks. "Metaswitch" is a registered
trademark. Brands and products referenced herein are the trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective holders.