Buckeye Cablevision Selects Cedar Point's SAFARI C(Cubed) for Residential Voice Switching Needs

Buckeye Cablevision Selects Cedar Point's SAFARI C(Cubed) for Residential Voice Switching Needs

DERRY, N.H., and TOLEDO, Ohio, Sept. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Cedar Point Communications, the leader in integrated packet-based voice switching technologies for the cable industry, and Buckeye Cablevision, Inc., today announced that Buckeye is using Cedar Point's SAFARI C(Cubed) Media Switching System for the delivery of voice-over-IP cable telephony services to its subscribers.

Buckeye, which is known for marketing purposes as Buckeye CableSystem, and which services 150,000 subscribers in northwestern Ohio, is utilizing the integrated, packet-based SAFARI C(Cubed) for its initial rollout of residential telephony. Buckeye previously had been delivering voice services to commercial customers within its market through a sister company, Buckeye TeleSystem, Inc.

"From our earlier experience with voice, we were acutely aware of the importance of a simple, cost-effective switching architecture, and the unique challenges in deploying a new voice service offering," said Joe Jensen, CTO of Buckeye CableSystem. "SAFARI C(Cubed) has enabled us to move quickly to a well-received operational service without the inconvenience of integration of multiple components and element management systems, and with the scalability to meet our business needs today and in the future."

"Because Buckeye already has voice expertise, they came into our discussions with a specific list of telephony needs regarding operational costs, quality of service and reliability of service," said Dave Spear, executive vice president, strategy and market development for Cedar Point Communications. "While SAFARI C(Cubed) met their concerns, one of the most important attributes was our ability to cost-effectively meet their initial business needs, and to grow in step with their customer base."

SAFARI C(Cubed) is the only totally integrated carrier class switch that incorporates -- at no additional cost -- all of the components that make up the PacketCable(TM) voice switching infrastructure, eliminating the need for operators to purchase, maintain, upgrade and regression test separate Call Management Servers, Media Gateways, Record Keeping Servers, Announcement Servers, Signaling Gateways, Ethernet Switches and CALEA servers.

Designed to accommodate not only current voice switching needs but also the anticipated migration to video telephony, multimedia services and seamless mobility, the PacketCable(TM)-qualified SAFARI C(Cubed) provides superior performance and reliability, significantly reducing capital expenditures, system integration and operations costs for cable operators offering telephony services while increasing network integrity, security and privacy.

About Buckeye Cablevision

Buckeye CableSystem is the largest cable firm operating in the Toledo area, with approximately 130,000 customers in Toledo and 26 contiguous suburbs and adjacent townships in Lucas, Wood, and Ottawa Counties in Ohio, and Monroe County, Michigan. Buckeye also operates Erie County Cablevision, Inc., in Sandusky, OH, which has about 20,000 subscribers some 50 miles east of Toledo.

Buckeye offers some 230 analog and digital channels of entertainment and information programming, High Definition telecasting, high-speed (up to 5 Mbps) Internet access, DVRs, Video on Demand, and residential telephone service.

It operates Buckeye CableSystem Sports Network (BCSN) a 24-hour channel concentrating on local sports - high school, college, amateur, semi- professional, and professional. It also operates WTO5, which is an all-cable channel and the WB affiliate in the Toledo DM A.

Buckeye, founded in 1965, is the second oldest continuously owned large cable system in the country. Buckeye CableSystem and Buckeye TeleSystem are wholly owned subsidiaries of Block Communications, Inc., a Toledo-based firm which also owns newspapers, a home security firm, and broadcast television stations.

About Cedar Point Communications

Cedar Point Communications' totally integrated voice and multimedia switches provide cable system operators with cost-efficient, less complex voice-over-IP alternatives to distributed soft-switching cable telephony options. Cedar Point's SAFARI C(Cubed) Media Switching System is a PacketCable(TM)-qualified, Carrier Class Cable (C "Cubed") solution that supports legacy circuit and PacketCable(TM) voice services, as well as video telephony and non-traditional SIP-based devices. The company is based in Derry, NH. For more information, please visit http://www.cedarpointcom.com/.

CableLabs(R) and PacketCable(TM) are trademarks of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.

Source: Cedar Point Communications

CONTACT: Paul Schneider of PSPR, Inc., +1-215-702-9784, pspr@att.net

Web site: http://www.cedarpointcom.com/

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