BRISTOL, Tenn. and
PARIS, Nov.
19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Bristol Tennessee Essential
Services (BTES) and Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU)
today announced that 1 Gigabit broadband service is now available
to all of BTES' 33,000 residential and business electric
customers.
Powered by Alcatel-Lucent's Gigabit passive optical network
(GPON) technology, Bristol's
network will accommodate speeds of up to 1 Gigabit-per-second
(Gbps), which is 10 times faster than the FCC's National Broadband
Plan calling for 100 Mbps speeds for 100 million households
nationwide by 2020.
"Bristol now has one of the
fastest, totally built out networks in the United States. To give an example of
how fast, you can download about two hours of video or
upwards of 200 songs in just six seconds," said Dr. Michael Browder, CEO of BTES. "For our
residential customers, that means one person in the household can
download a movie, while another is playing an online game, while
another is watching an HDTV program – all without slowing down any
of the activities. For our business customers, it opens the way for
transporting and accessing 'big data', which is critical for
economic development of the area."
One Gigabit service also has tremendous benefits for education,
from elementary through university levels. For example, an
elementary school located in the foothills of the Appalachian
Mountains is combining SMART Board Technology and BTES' Gigabit
service to offer virtual field trips to learn about other parts of
the world. Recently, a classroom of 20 eight-year-olds
"travelled" to Egypt to learn
about the pyramids assisted by their own on-site tour
guide.
"Alcatel-Lucent and BTES have a long-standing relationship, and
are committed to putting the Bristol community at the forefront of
high-speed, high-tech communications for consumers, schools and
businesses alike," said Robert Vrij,
President of Alcatel-Lucent's Americas region and head of Global
Strategic Alliances. "Our long-time collaboration to bring
this network to Bristol speaks
volumes about the confidence they have in our technology, our
expertise, our global leadership and our ability to help create one
of the world's most advanced high-speed broadband access
networks."
About BTES' 1 Gigabit network
Using Alcatel-Lucent's GPON-enabled 7342 ISAM FTTU optical line
terminals (OLTs) and optical network terminals (ONTs), BTES is able
to provide voice, video and data services up to one Gigabit per
second. BTES' OLTs connect to a 10 Gigabit backbone via
Alcatel-Lucent's 7450 ESS switches and are aggregated through a
pair of 7750 BSR routers to 10 Gigabits of Internet capacity. BTES'
ONTs are capable of providing advanced IPTV video services along
with traditional cable television, telephone and up to one Gigabit
per second of Internet bandwidth.
About BTES
Bristol Tennessee Essential Services (BTES) is a
municipally-owned electric utility that also provides high-speed
Internet, telephone, and cable television services over a fiber
optic network. BTES has more than 33,000 electric customers in a
280-square-mile service area in the City
of Bristol and Sullivan County,
Tennessee. BTES' fiber optic system has allowed them to do
many things with electric service that were unheard of just a few
short years ago. Those customers with fiber services to their homes
have automatic power outage detection, meaning that they do not
need to make a telephone call if their power goes out. In addition,
the system provides automatic meter reading and theft detection.
BTES also offers additional products and services through a Water
Heater Load Management Program, a Heat Pump Program and an Energy
Savings Loan Program.
For more information, visit www.btes.net.
ABOUT ALCATEL-LUCENT (EURONEXT PARIS AND NYSE: ALU)
The
long-trusted partner of service providers, enterprises and
governments around the world, Alcatel-Lucent is a leading innovator
in the field of networking and communications technology, products
and services. The company is home to Bell
Labs, one of the world's foremost research centers,
responsible for breakthroughs that have shaped the networking and
communications industry. Alcatel-Lucent was named one of MIT
Technology Review's 2012 Top 50 list of the "World's Most
Innovative Companies" for breakthroughs such as lightRadio™, which
cuts power consumption and operating costs on wireless networks
while delivering lightning fast Internet access. Through such
innovations, Alcatel-Lucent is making communications more
sustainable, more affordable and more accessible as we pursue our
mission - Realizing the Potential of a Connected World.
With operations in more than 130 countries and one of the
most experienced global services organizations in the industry,
Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach. The Company
achieved revenues of Euro 15.3
billion in 2011 and is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.
For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on:
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the
Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow
the Company on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.
SOURCE Alcatel-Lucent