MetaSwitch Rewarded for Being Cooperative
Leading telecom cooperatives Horry Telephone and GVTC tackle network migration with MetaSwitch at the core
Alameda, CA: September 18, 2007. MetaSwitch, a leading industry vendor of softswitch and applications solutions, announced today that it has become the core switching solution of choice for the nation's leading telephone cooperatives, providing the combination of award-winning, innovative technology and superior professional services. This combination enables carriers of all sizes and shapes to successfully leverage innovative technology to deliver competitive, highly-valued next generation services.
Included in this list are two of the top 5 largest telephone cooperatives in North America: Horry Telephone Cooperative (HTC) and GVTC. HTC and GVTC have an innovative approach to service creation and delivery in the telecommunications market. Both carriers are comprised of members, each of whom has a vote in the services the cooperative offers and the equipment it deploys. Cooperatives were first formed by concerned individuals and groups in areas that traditional operators deemed too unprofitable to deploy telephone services.
"MetaSwitch provides a field-proven technology on which we can build our next generation network and will be a fundamental part of how we deliver a more advanced set of services and applications to our members," said Frank Sarvis, Chief Executive of Network Engineering for HTC, the nation's largest telephone cooperative. "MetaSwitch understands the issues we face and our organizational structure, which has enabled us to quickly move through deployment to revenue, accelerating our migration to a next-generation network."
Both HTC and GVTC began by installing the necessary facilities to deliver basic telephone service and have since grown to offer a variety of residential and business voice, data, wireless and online services, operating as both an incumbent in their traditional service areas and through expansion as a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) in new markets.
"For over 50 years, GVTC has ensured that our members and customers can experience similar service offerings and quality normally found in large metro areas," said George O'Neal, vice president of network services at GVTC. "We offer one of the most comprehensive service portfolios available in Texas including a robust voice, data and cable TV offering; and look forward to tapping into the next level of services and applications with MetaSwitch at the core of our network."
MetaSwitch's leadership is based on its ability to help any carrier in any market develop, deploy and deliver high-value voice and data services. For instance, MetaSwitch's technology is essential to how:
- HTC continues its commitment to providing the most reliable communications services possible at the best possible value providing a complete, integrated bundle of voice, video and cable to its customers in South Carolina. HTC delivers service over approximately 85,000 access lines to its customers in Horry and Georgetown counties.
- GVTC has evolved into a comprehensive communications provider with offerings that go well beyond residential and business telephone service. As the largest telephone cooperative in Texas, its service area spans 2,000 square miles and eleven counties, and includes over 32,000 members with approximately 42,000 access lines.
"MetaSwitch understands what it takes for carriers to be successful in today's markets and since inception we've helped over 250 services providers deliver higher-value services to their customers," said Mike Ward, senior vice president of sales at MetaSwitch. "MetaSwitch will continue to bring best-in-class solutions to market that can be fully leveraged by carriers deploying millions or thousands of lines, ensuring that each carrier has the tools it needs to successfully compete for business in an increasingly savvy marketplace."
About MetaSwitch
MetaSwitch is an industry-leading vendor of 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 Class 4/5 capabilities and hosted unified communications services. Based on open standards including IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), MetaSwitch solutions scale 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 Data Connection, a consistently profitable and privately held telecom technology provider. For more information, please visit www.metaswitch.com.
About HTC
HTC, Inc. is the nation's largest telephone cooperative and the 25th largest telephone company. Founded in 1952, HTC celebrates over 55 years of service to the community as a local communications leader. HTC offers local telephone service, long distance, Digital Wireless, Digital Cable, High-Speed Internet Access, and advanced Business Services such as Remote Recovery Services, Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) design, firewall and Virtual Private Network (VPN) security. HTC Communications, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of HTC, Inc., offers local telephone service in the city of Conway, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Little River, Pawleys Island and the city of Georgetown. A full menu of communications services are available from HTC Communications including, local telephone service, long distance, Digital Wireless, Digital Cable and High-Speed Internet access. HTC also provides Fiber to the Home technology called HTC Bluewave, a state-of-the-art fiber optic network that delivers unparalleled bandwidth for extremely high-speed Internet access and data transmittal, 100% digital cable TV video, and traditional voice service through a single delivery point to a customer's home.
About GVTC
GVTC was formed as a telephone cooperative in 1951 to provide phone service to rural residents of Central and South Texas. Today, it provides a wide range of services to more than 32,000 members in 11 counties across an area that covers approximately 2,000 square miles. GVTC offers high-speed broadband Internet technology, digital cable TV, digital phone service and home security monitoring. It was the first telecommunications entity to provide Fiber-to-the-Home technology in South Texas. More information may be found on GVTC's newly redesigned website: www.gvtc.com.
Data Connection and MetaSwitch are trademarks of Data Connection Limited and Data Connection Corporation. Brands and products referenced herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.