MetroCast Cablevision Selects Cedar Point's Safari C(Cubed) for Telephony Deployments in Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia

MetroCast Cablevision Selects Cedar Point's Safari C(Cubed) for Telephony Deployments in Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia

DERRY, N.H. and ROCHESTER, N.H., Oct. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Cedar Point Communications, the leader in integrated packet-based voice switching technologies for the cable industry, and MetroCast Cablevision today announced that MetroCast has selected Cedar Point as the switching vendor for the delivery of voice-over-IP cable telephony services to its subscribers.

MetroCast, which services 110,000 subscribers in Maine, New Hampshire, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, will deploy Cedar Point's integrated, packet-based SAFARI C(Cubed) Multimedia Switching System for future residential telephony rollouts. The initial launch, in New Hampshire, is scheduled for the Fall of 2006.

"Our research into the delivery of voice services and the proximity of our two companies has led over the past three years to a close association with Cedar Point," said Steve Murdough, senior vice president and general manager of MetroCast Cablevision. "Their focus on carrier class telephony and their dedication in working with cable operators to meet the industry's unique needs have made them a strong technical resource, and a logical choice for our voice switching equipment. The decision to deploy the SAFARI C(Cubed) platform solidifies a longstanding relationship with Cedar Point."

"Simplicity, total cost of ownership and the ability to scale to our serving area customer bases all were significant factors in our selection process," said Josh Barstow, vice president of advanced services for MetroCast. "Through our work with the company, and our discussions with existing Cedar Point customers, it was clear that Cedar Point and SAFARI C(Cubed) best met those requirements."

"MetroCast has been a terrific partner for Cedar Point since the early days of the company's inception. Our combined technical and business resources have been in consultation on a variety of matters related to the applications, back office deployment and the road to telephony," said George Kassas, founder and EVP for Cedar Point Communications. "We look forward to continue working with MetroCast on the near-term deployment of the competitive voice services that will attract and retain subscribers, as well as the advanced broadband services that will maintain MetroCast's leadership position in its serving franchise."

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 MetroCast Cablevision

MetroCast Cablevision is a multi-system cable television operator serving close to 70,000 customers in New Hampshire and Maine and close to 40,000 in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In addition to its standard cable television offering, the Company offers residential and business high-speed Internet access service and more than 250 channels of digital and interactive services in its recently upgraded 860 MHz systems.

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, PSPR, Inc., +1-215-702-9784, pspr@att.net, for Cedar Point Communications

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

------- Profile: Ent