Blog

FREMONT, Calif., November 4, 2003 - Actelis Networks®,a leading supplier of solutions that enable profitable carrier-grade broadband services over local loop copper, announced today that Penn Telecom has successfully deployed its MetaLIGHT® 1500 broadband over copper solution to provide DS3 service to the American Business Council's Transatlantic Business Conference held Oct. 24-27, at the Sheraton Station Square Conference Center in Pittsburgh.

One of the key concepts of the conference this year was to broadcast sessions within North America and across the Atlantic to the UK in real time using the Marconi ViPr Virtual Presence System. The ViPr enables users to experience the intimacy, immediacy and productivity of face-to-face discussions even if they are half a world apart, however it requires a broadband connection approaching DS3 speed to deliver this quality of connection. There was no fiber in place between the Sheraton Station Square Conference Center and the serving Central Office (CO). Local competitive service provider Penn Telecom Inc. established the network connection between the Sheraton Station Square Conference Center and the CO utilizing Actelis Networks' MetaLIGHT 1500 broadband over copper solution on leased UNE copper loops. This allowed Penn Telecom to immediately turn up a broadband link to the Sheraton Station Square Conference Center using the existing copper infrastructure.

"With the conference titled "No Barriers... Just bridges", we had to find a solution for this problem, and fiber wasn't available. Fortunately, from our past work with Actelis, we knew that Actelis' MetaLIGHT solution was a viable option for us." said Frank Macefe, president, Penn Telecom Inc. "We were able to bring up the solution quickly and without a hitch for the conference."

"Actelis' MetaLIGHT solution enabled Penn Telecom to quickly respond to Marconi's high bandwidth requirement and rapidly turn up the new services to the Sheraton Station Square Conference Center by simply using the existing copper plant," said Bruce Hammergren, vice president of North American sales, Actelis Networks. "Since over 80% of business locations are not served today by fiber, MetaLIGHT transforms the business prospects for a product like the ViPr."

"We are impressed with the Actelis MetaLIGHT solution's ability to rapidly deploy and support the ViPr system. A true virtual presence solution relies on a high-quality network link and Penn Telecom achieved that using the MetaLIGHT 1500," said Rich Kushner, vice president of industry relations, Marconi Corporation. "Many businesses are turning to virtual presence solutions to eliminate travel time and costs, and a solution such as Actelis' MetaLIGHT can bring the business benefits of ViPr to locations where fiber is not available."

Based on Actelis' patented MetaLOOP technology, Actelis' MetaLIGHT solutions provide high-speed, fiber-quality, broadband services over the existing copper plant. MetaLIGHT solutions are designed to complement a service provider's fiber network by allowing them to use their existing copper plant to offer fiber-quality broadband services to business customers who only have access to copper. MetaLIGHT systems are simple to deploy without the need for loop pre-qualification. They provide far superior rate, reach and reliability compared to other products on the market and they allow service provides to maximize the available revenue from customers throughout the Carrier Serving Area (CSA) and beyond.