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FREMONT, Calif., June 22, 2011 - Actelis Networks®, the leading global supplier of Ethernet over copper solutions that is accelerating everything for municipalities and government agencies, today announced it has deployed broadband solutions across a 440-thousand-square-mile region in the Northwest Territories of Canada, successfully connecting a community of more than 40 thousand people to schools, health care centers and other public services. Sparsely populated regions, like those in the Northwest Territories, often lack access to critical health care and public services due to their geographic location. The key to providing such a scattered population with these communications services was to establish a fast, reliable broadband communications network that leveraged the existing copper network. Actelis’ products and solutions enable the creation of this critical high-speed broadband Ethernet network by leveraging the existing copper network infrastructure.

“A reliable, robust underlying broadband network powers comprehensive communications services, such as video conferencing and distance learning applications, enabling immediate access to experts in the fields of learning and medicine,” said Mark McCallum, senior network analyst at Northwest Territories Government. “With the Actelis solution, the revitalized, high-speed broadband network serves as the nerve center for the community, providing access to services often inaccessible to this region.”

“In order to construct a network that can provide the necessary bandwidth, reliability and access in such remote locations, satellite, line-of-sight microwave systems or a fiber-based network are often considered to be the only alternatives,” said Joe Manuele, executive vice president of worldwide sales and customer service at Actelis. “However, a fiber-based buildout typically require millions of dollars in investment to lay new fiber, plus months, if not years, of effort involving digging trenches, negotiating rights-of-way agreements and so on.”

In the case of the Northwestern Territories, the combination of existing copper-based infrastructure, coupled with Actelis’ innovative EFMplus™ technology, enabled creation of these high-speed networks without the delay or expense commonly involved in building alternative solutions. Actelis’ EFM over copper access equipment was able to connect the large number of communities through a centralized network, allowing an ecosystem of educators, health care providers, doctors and specialists, as well as insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, to connect and work together as a single unit to provide critical services. Actelis’ patented, award-winning EFMplus technology served as the foundation for the aggregation switches and Ethernet Access Devices (EADs), which have been engineered to provide high bandwidth and reliable connectivity at very long distances over the copper network. This enabled the Northwest Territories to deliver services reliably and economically to every location almost immediately, regardless of distance.

“In the past a patient’s x-ray would be flown out to be examined by another doctor or specialist. Then, the patient typically would have to wait days for the results from the doctor, and several days if inclement weather grounded all incoming and outbound flights,” said McCallum. “With Actelis, what used to take a few days, now takes only a few hours.”

“Actelis believes that a reliable, high-speed broadband infrastructure that brings people together fosters economic growth and prosperity,” added Manuele. “Actelis is pleased to be part of a solution that is helping bring critical services, like health care and education, which improve the quality of life for everyone in the Northwest Territories.”