FTTH Council First Press Release (July 2001)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FTTH Council Contacts:
Pam Enstad, Optical Solutions Inc., 763-268-3441, penstad@opticalsolutions.com
Donna Keegan, Corning Incorporated, 607-974-2528, keegandl@corning.com
Tami Christie, Alcatel US, 707-665-8237, tami.christie@usa.alcatel.com
Fiber Optic Industry Leaders Unite in Formation of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council
Council Aims to Accelerate Deployment of Fiber to the Home
BALTIMORE, MD -- July 9, 2001 – Alcatel, Corning Incorporated and Optical Solutions today announced the formation by them and other companies of the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council. The FTTH Council’s charter is educating, promoting and accelerating the deployment of fiber-to-the-home in North America.
The FTTH Council will comprise members from the following industries: telecommunications, computing, networking, system integration and content-provider businesses. Other members in the Council include traditional telecommunications service providers, utilities, municipalities and real estate developers.
The following thus far have committed to forming the FTTH Council: Adesta Communications, AFL Telecommunications, Alcatel, American Power Conversion, Atlantic Engineering Group, CopperCom, Inc., Corning Incorporated, Financial Strategies Group, LLC (FSG), iWired, Inc., Lightwaves Communications Systems, Inc., Network Telco, Inc., Nexans, Optical Solutions, Pirelli Communications Cables & Systems NA, Science Applications International Corporation, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave, Team Fishel, Wave7 Optics, Inc., and World Wide Packets.
“By joining forces to educate the industry about fiber to the home and its benefits, we can effectively accelerate FTTH deployment, as Alcatel has done with other broadband access technologies,” said Lionel Adnet, vice president of Alcatel’s Advanced Systems Group.
“Participation in the Council is open to all organizations interested in advancing the FTTH revolution,” said Wendell Weeks, president – Optical Communications, Corning. “As demand for communications networks with expanded capabilities constantly increases, optical fiber clearly offers significant advantages over legacy copper systems.”
“The time for FTTH is now and the FTTH Council gives us a leadership position in promoting fiber-to-the-home throughout the industry and to communities throughout North America,” said Darryl Ponder, chairman and chief executive officer, Optical Solutions, Inc., “Only FTTH offers a superb-quality, high-bandwidth solution that will take away, once and for all, the bottleneck that currently exists in the local access market.”
The FTTH Council will hold its first meeting to elect a board of directors and committee chairpersons and to ratify its 2001 agenda in August. Legal counsel for the FTTH Council will be appointed at that meeting.
About Alcatel
Alcatel (www.alcatel.com) builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. Alcatel is the industry leader in North America in NGDLC and ADSL. The FTTH platform is another component in the broadband access portfolio allowing customers to extend their optical networks across the last mile of the communications network. With 110,000 employees and sales of EURO 31 billion in 2000, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.
Alcatel (www.alcatel.com) builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. Alcatel is the industry leader in North America in NGDLC and ADSL. The FTTH platform is another component in the broadband access portfolio allowing customers to extend their optical networks across the last mile of the communications network. With 110,000 employees and sales of EURO 31 billion in 2000, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.
About Corning Incorporated
Established in 1851, Corning Incorporated (www.corning.com) creates leading-edge technologies for the fastest-growing markets of the world’s economy. Corning manufactures optical fiber, cable and photonic products for the telecommunications industry; and high-performance displays and components for television, information technology and other communications-related industries. The company also uses advanced materials to manufacture products for scientific, semiconductor and environmental markets. Corning revenues for 2000 were $7.1 billion.
About Optical Solutions Inc.
Optical Solutions Inc. is leading the industry with its patented FiberPath fiber-to-the-home solution, which incorporates a passive optical network (PON) for broadband delivery of voice, video and high-speed data directly to the home and broader community. Optical Solutions’ customers are facilities-based service providers including independent telephone companies, competitive and incumbent local exchange carriers, utilities, municipalities and housing developers. For more information, please visit: www.opticalsolutions.com.