GulfPines Delivers a 10x Boost in Bandwidth by Replacing Legacy T1 and DS3 Circuits with Ethernet Over Copper From Actelis Networks
“Their exceptional support for bonding was one of the single most important factors in selecting Actelis.”
FREMONT, Calif., October 1, 2009 - Actelis Networks®, the leading global supplier of Ethernet over copper solutions, today announced that GulfPines Communications, LLC, a Mississippi-based CLEC offering high-speed Internet and VoIP (Voice over IP) services to residential and business customers, is deploying the company’s ML600 Ethernet Access Devices (EADs) to replace its existing T1 and DS3 circuits. By leveraging its existing copper plant with Actelis’ ML600 EADs, GulfPines can immediately upgrade its network to offer enhanced broadband services with more than ten times the bandwidth of its legacy services. The move also brings a major reduction in operation expenditures, while allowing new and existing services to match customer requirements for higher bit rates far more accurately and efficiently via Actelis’ much more scalable Ethernet access systems.
“To meet the growing demands of our valued customers, GulfPines needed to provide a competitive solution that delivered next-generation broadband services at affordable prices,” said Michael Harvey, network operations manager at GulfPines. “The company quickly and cost-effectively revitalized its existing copper network with Actelis’ EFM over bonded-copper solutions, enabling us to replace expensive DS3 and low-bandwidth T1 circuits with significantly more bandwidth and advanced service level agreements.”
For GulfPines and many service providers, offering legacy T1s—typically running at 1.5 Mbps over two copper pairs—has become an expensive and insufficient solution for their subscribers who require more bandwidth to run a variety of voice, video and data applications.
In contrast, Actelis’ EFM over copper solutions exploit its state-of-the-art, patented signal processing technology, EFMplus™, to deliver substantially greater rate, with bandwidths up to 15 Mbps over each copper pair. This equates to about a quarter of the cost of a T1, and with greater range. Actelis’ standards-compliant EFMplus copper transmission technology also provides additional performance and reliability over and above the IEEE EFM over copper standard. This enables Actelis to replace these legacy circuits by leveraging the same underlying copper infrastructure to deliver dramatically improved services at much lower OPEX, while achieving a return on investment in a matter of only a few months.
“GulfPines and other service providers are choosing Actelis because of the extra value we deliver on all their critical requirements, such as the ability to guarantee demanding service level agreements, faster time to market, and better scalability,” said Joe Manuele , senior vice president of worldwide sales and customer support at Actelis . “ Actelis’ ongoing commitment to The 3Rs of EFM: Rate, Reach and Reliability™ is opening doors for the company not just across the U.S, but all over the world as operators realize that they can obtain scalable, fiber-like next generation performance over their existing copper plant.”
GulfPines’ Harvey highlighted the carrier-class robustness of the Actelis ML600 EAD as a key factor for GulfPines in its provision of critical business services, as well as backhaul where the consequences of failure are particularly acute.
“ The Actelis equipment has been absolutely reliable,” hailed Harvey. “ Their exceptional support for bonding was one of the single most important factors in selecting Actelis, since their ML600 EADs deliver not just scalable bandwidth, but also increased reliability and resiliency, because a circuit can tolerate failure of any single pair. Actelis’ superior cross-platform bonding also protects services against the failure in the hardware, as well minimizing any costs associated with on-going pair management.”
About GulfPines
GulfPines is a Mississippi-based competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) specializing in local and long distance voice transmission, high-speed broadband, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. GulfPines is a subsidiary of the Fail Telecommunications Corporation (FTC), whose corporate offices are located in Bay Springs, MS. The Fail family began providing telephone services to residents of Bay Springs in 1923. Other FTC affiliates and subsidiaries include NeXband Communications of Jackson, MS, Fulton Telephone Company of Fulton, MS, Mound Bayou Telephone Company of Mound Bayou, MS, and Chickamauga Telephone Company of Chickamauga, GA. Learn more at www.gulfpines.com.