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LAS VEGAS, June 17, 2008—Actelis Networks® (Booth SL8916), the leading global supplier of Carrier Ethernet over Copper™ solutions, today announced at NXTcomm08 that the company has significantly enhanced its line of widely deployed ML600 Ethernet Access Devices (EADs) by introducing the ML650 for mobile backhaul. The new ML650 EAD, one of the first products to receive MEF 18 certification from the Metro Ethernet Forum, delivers exceptionally reliable TDM and advanced high-speed broadband services over a converged packet network without sacrificing service quality and reliability. Actelis’ family of standards-compliant EADs enables delivery of high-speed, resilient carrier Ethernet services over existing copper infrastructure for Metro Ethernet, IP DSLAM backhaul and, now, mobile backhaul applications.

As mobile networks evolve to pure packet-based networks, they will still require the support of TDM circuits and precise network synchronization for the foreseeable future. Pseudo wire has been long thought of as the eventual solution, converging mobile voice and data networks. However, reliability, synchronization accuracy and cost-effective high-bandwidth availability have been the most significant obstacles to deployment. Actelis Networks clears this hurdle for wide-scale deployment of mobile broadband with the introduction of its new ML650 EAD product family.

“A standards-based solution that delivers higher bandwidth to mobile base stations over a converged packet network while providing TDM circuits and highly reliable network synchronization clearly paves the path to ubiquitous deployment of mobile broadband,” said Eric Vallone, vice president of marketing at Actelis Networks. “Coupled with greater rate, reach and reliability, Actelis has introduced an innovative portfolio of mobile backhaul products that combines TDM and broadband services without sacrificing service quality. Actelis’ products eliminate the daunting expense of trenching for fiber, while supporting the mobile operators’ evolution from 2G through 3G, and all the way to 4G/LTE.”

Knowing that synchronization has to be guaranteed for mobile networks to offer the new services their customers are wanting, Actelis has implemented a standard pseudo wire solution with an innovative clocking mechanism that guarantees synchronization equal to, and even better than, that provided by traditional T1/E1 circuits. This, combined with Actelis’ Three R’s of EFM - Rate, Reach and Reliability, clears the way for wide-scale deployment of mobile broadband.

In a recent report from Infonetics Research, the San Jose, Calif.-based analyst firm reported that the rapidly increasing numbers of mobile subscribers—reaching 4.4 billion worldwide by 2011—as well as the explosion in mobile data and video use, particularly on an Apple® iPhone and their clones, will require service providers to significantly increase bandwidth offerings. Additionally, Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder of Infonetics Research, believes that heavy competition is forcing operators to upgrade their network capacity to improve and add new subscriber services, which includes upgrades for IP/Ethernet, while still requiring the use of TDM circuits at the base station to support the evolution.

“All market indicators support the continued growth of the mobile backhaul market,” said Howard. “We expect to see the Ethernet mobile backhaul revolution really kick off in 2009, with part of the ramp coming from Ethernet over copper solutions. Mobile backhaul represents a major opportunity for Actelis, and their [ML650] EFM device with increased bandwidth, clock synchronization and reliability is a pragmatic product that mobile operators and backhaul transport providers will consider for the many cell sites that will be copper-connected for years.”