MetaSwitch is on Georgia's Mind

Eight Georgia-based carriers using MetaSwitch softswitch to offer voice services

 

Alameda, CA: February 21, 2007. MetaSwitch announced today that eight Georgia-based Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) and Independent Operating Companies (IOCs) are using the MetaSwitch VP3510 Integrated Softswitch to migrate their customers off existing Class 5 switches, and offer a range of voice services, including traditional Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) telephony and Voice over IP (VoIP), throughout Georgia and in Tennessee.

Of the eight Georgia customers, four are new and four others are existing customers who continue to grow their successful deployments. They collectively demonstrate the value and success of MetaSwitch solutions in a highly competitive marketplace.

"As CLECs and IOCs around the country look for ways to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of their networks, migrating customers off Class 5 switches is becoming an obvious and necessary change," said Patrick Hally, Regional Director at MetaSwitch. "In Georgia and beyond, hundreds of service providers are deploying MetaSwitch to transition from legacy circuit-switched networks to softswitch architectures, enabling them to benefit from immediate cost savings and introduce new IP-based services at their own pace."

The Georgia-based service providers, which vary in size and customer base - serving from 5,000 to over 100,000 lines - include three previously announced CLECs: Access Integrated Networks, headquartered in Macon; Amerimex Communications, headquartered in Atlanta; and BroadRiver Communications, also headquartered in Atlanta. The IOC customers include: Coastal Communications, headquartered in Hinesville; ComSouth, headquartered in Hawkinsville; Ellijay Telephone, headquartered in Ellijay; Plant Telecommunications, headquartered in Tifton; and previously announced Progressive Rural Telephone Co-Op, headquartered in Rentz.

ComSouth is a local, integrated communications provider offering local and long distance telephone, high-speed internet, cable TV, and wireless telephone services to middle Georgia. It is deploying digital telephony services to its cable TV customers in Cochran, Hawkinsville, Perry and Unadilla using the MetaSwitch VP3510.

"The knowledge and responsiveness that MetaSwitch has provided us has been imperative in our success with our voice-over-cable roll-out," said Mike McClain, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for ComSouth. "We chose to work with MetaSwitch based on their experience in the field. We didn’t want to take a chance with a vendor who hadn’t done it before."

In a more traditional migration setting, Plant Telecommunications has deployed MetaSwitch’s VP3510 to replace its existing network of Nortel DMS-10 switches, reaping significant cost savings by consolidating its network from seven to just two switching offices. Plant Telecommunications, which is in the process of expanding its already feature rich service offerings to include IPTV and VoIP, is one of the largest family-owned telephone companies in South Georgia with over 10,000 access lines in a service area spanning 13 counties.

"Our complicated routing required the customization and expertise that MetaSwitch provides," said Danny E. Sterling, President and General Manager for Plant Telecommunications. "We are in the middle of quickly collapsing and retiring seven Class 5 switches and we needed a softswitch solution that was capable of handling the load efficiently. MetaSwitch gives us that ability along with the flexibility to expand into new IP-based services."

About MetaSwitch

MetaSwitch is an industry-leading vendor of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) switching and applications solutions for both packet and circuit-switched networks. Its widely deployed call agent, media/signaling gateway and application server platform supports a full range of legacy Class 4/5 capabilities and hosted unified communications services, and scales from a few hundred to millions of subscribers in both integrated and distributed configurations. Customers include incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers, as well as operators of broadband wireless, cable and fiber networks. MetaSwitch is a division of established telecom technology provider Data Connection. The company is consistently profitable and privately held, with main US offices in California and Virginia, and European headquarters in London, UK. For more information: www.metaswitch.com.