Westchester County Governments and Businesses Rely on Optimum Lightpath for Advanced Data Delivery and Management Solutions

Westchester County Governments and Businesses Rely on Optimum Lightpath for Advanced Data Delivery and Management Solutions

Port Chester, Mount Pleasant and Pelham Manor Latest to Harness Potential of County-Wide Fiber Optic Communications Network

The Pepsi Bottling Group among Businesses Leveraging Optimum Lightpath's Enterprise Communications Solutions

JERICHO, N.Y., June 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Optimum Lightpath, the next-generation business broadband service provider of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC) , today announced more than 50 percent of the municipalities in New York's Westchester County - including county and municipal governments as well as more than 3,500 businesses - are using its advanced communications solutions, delivered over a 100 percent fully fiber optic network built through an innovative and forward-thinking partnership with Westchester County. Port Chester, Mount Pleasant and Pelham Manor are the latest to make use of Optimum Lightpath's services.

With more than 32,000 miles of actual fiber connecting over 150 government and 1,500 commercial buildings, Optimum Lightpath's Westchester Telecom Network now provides services to more than 3,500 businesses located within the County's borders, in addition to numerous schools, libraries, healthcare and public safety organizations.

A customer since 2001, the County of Westchester renewed its contract with Optimum Lightpath, extending its agreement to makes use of Optimum Lightpath's wholly-built, owned and operated Westchester Telecom Network for an additional five years. Currently, 23 municipalities, seven school districts, the Emergency Operations Center, Westchester Medical Center and County operations at the New York State Transportation Management Center utilize Optimum Lightpath's fully fiber optic network for data, voice and internet services. The 2007 signings of Port Chester, Mount Pleasant and Pelham Manor follow 2006 agreements with Southern Westchester BOCES, Mamaroneck, Blind Brook, and the City of Yonkers.

"The Westchester Telecom Network has been a driving force behind this county's economic growth and has significantly reduced the costs to provide new government services to our residents," said Westchester County Executive Andy Spano. "We now have one of the most robust and sophisticated telecommunications networks in the country, and our success has garnered the attention of other municipal governments planning to upgrade broadband services."

Optimum Lightpath has provided breakthrough results for Westchester County from the start, enabling more effective communications than previously possible. These results include:

   -- Quadrupling bandwidth for the County's state-of-the-art Emergency      Operations Center, Transportation Management Center, and back-up data      center;   -- Completing the first phase of installation of the new county-wide      trunked radio system, intended to enhance communications among public      safety agencies, transit workers and other mobile employees; and   -- Upgrading an emergency medical services dispatch system for Mohegan      Volunteer Ambulance Corps through linking into the County's central      dispatching system.   

One example of the positive reaction to Optimum Lighpath is from Ann Marie Berg, Comptroller of the Town of Eastchester. "The Town now has exceptional phone service at a third of the price. The entire transition was seamless due to the exceptional professional implementation staff."

Plans are in place for even more enhanced services in the near future, which will also be supported by Optimum Lightpath's network. These include:

   -- Linking the County's municipal police departments and court system      through a high bandwidth video booking application, which will increase      public safety and reduce costs associated with booking suspects;   -- Synchronizing traffic lights throughout the County in order to improve      traffic flow;   -- Upgrading the Volunteer Ambulance Corps emergency dispatch services for      Somers, Mount Kisco and Mamaroneck;   -- Initiating services at the new Ossining Police facility;   -- Upgrading the phone capabilities at Westchester County Airport;   -- Using Voice over IP phones and softphones as backups for voice      communications should the County's traditional phone services fail      during an emergency or storm; and   -- Redesigning the County web site to add streaming video content.   

"Cost-effective and reliable communications are of the utmost importance to municipal organizations," said Dave Pistacchio, Optimum Lightpath's executive vice president and general manager. "Optimum Lightpath's successful ongoing relationship with Westchester County shows that reliability does not have to be sacrificed for value. In addition, the substantial private commercial traffic running across the Westchester Telecom Network validates the County Executive's objective for a service that benefits both the public and private sectors within Westchester County."

Current and planned services are designed to boost accessibility, improve quality of communications, reduce overall telecom costs, and provide significant economic development opportunities for businesses and residents in Westchester County.

"Optimum Lightpath is an indispensable partner in transforming how the entire County government operates," said Dr. Norman J. Jacknis, Ph.D., Westchester County's Chief Information Officer. "Thanks to the capacity, speed and reliability that Optimum Lightpath's services provide, we will continue to implement advanced technologies like voice over IP, video and wireless to better serve our residents, businesses and communities."

In addition to the County, Optimum Lightpath addresses the data, Internet and voice needs of companies across Westchester. One excellent example is The Pepsi Bottling Group.

"Together, Optimum Lightpath and The Pepsi Bottling Group have seamlessly networked five distinct sites across Westchester County and thus created a single, virtual campus," according to Neal Bronzo, CIO of The Pepsi Bottling Group. "Over the past two years, Optimum Lightpath has exceeded our expectations and requirements in delivering a world-class infrastructure from design and installation through performance, capacity, reliability and redundancy."

Businesses interested in learning more about Optimum Lightpath can visit www.optimumlightpath.com/ or call 1-877-LIGHTPATH.

About Westchester County

Westchester County is a suburban community with a population of more than 900,000. The County is 450 square miles, sharing its borders with New York City, Connecticut and Rockland, and is easily accessible to New Jersey. The County ranks 2nd in per capita personal income among counties in New York State, surpassed only by Manhattan (New York County). Among all counties in the United States, Westchester ranks 6th highest in average per capita income.

Westchester County is also home to almost 30,000 companies and organizations. This includes corporate headquarters for several Fortune 500 companies, such as MasterCard, IBM and PepsiCo, as well as other large corporations, such as Lenovo, Morgan Stanley and Nokia.

The County Government provides extensive services and operates a number of diverse facilities including the Westchester County Airport, Westchester Community College, Westchester County Correctional Facility, and a 16,000-acre County Park system, all of which will be participating in this undertaking. The Department of Public Works is responsible for maintaining 200 bridges and 179 miles of county roads. The Department of Environmental Facilities maintains an extensive system for sewers and water throughout the County. Some of the other major County departments include Transportation, Health, Social Services, Probation, Public Safety and Information Technology.

Westchester County includes 45 municipalities, including towns, villages and cities, 114 police and fire departments, 44 libraries and a variety of educational facilities with annual budgets ranging from 9 million to 95 million dollars.

About Optimum Lightpath

Optimum Lightpath, a business telecommunications services division of Cablevision Systems Corporation, uses the power of its reliable and resilient fully fiber optic network to deliver converged data, Internet and voice solutions to businesses throughout the New York metropolitan area. Since its formation 18 years ago, Optimum Lightpath built an advanced fiber-to-the- business-premises network extending more than 2,700 route miles throughout the tri-state area. As a result of owning and maintaining this state-of-the-art network, Optimum Lightpath is able to reliably provide scalable, high-capacity IP-based Metro Ethernet services that support high bandwidth data, Internet and voice applications and optimize the enterprise customer's quality of experience - at lower prices than traditional offerings.

Optimum Lightpath has been recognized for nine straight years by the New York State Public Service Commission for delivering highly personalized customer service superior to the competition. Winner of the Metro Ethernet Forum's 2006 Service Provider of the Year Award for Outstanding Innovation, Optimum Lightpath became one of the first service providers in the world and the only North American MSO to earn Carrier Ethernet certification from the Metro Ethernet Forum in April 2006. For more information, visit www.optimumlightpath.com.

About Cablevision

Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC) is one of the nation's leading entertainment and telecommunications companies. Its cable television operations serve more than 3 million households in the New York metropolitan area. The company's advanced telecommunications offerings include its iO: Interactive Optimum(R) digital television, Optimum Online high-speed Internet, Optimum Voice digital voice-over-cable, and its Optimum Lightpath integrated business communications services. Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings LLC operates several successful programming businesses, including AMC, IFC, WE tv and other national and regional networks. In addition to its telecommunications and programming businesses, Cablevision owns Madison Square Garden and its sports teams, the New York Knicks, Rangers and Liberty. The company also operates New York's famed Radio City Music Hall, and owns and operates Clearview Cinemas and the Beacon Theater.

   Media Contacts:   Nicholas Rae   Optimum Lightpath   516-803-1172   nrae@optimumlightpath.com    Jennifer Moritz   Zer0 to 5ive for Optimum Lightpath   917-748-4006   jmoritz@0to5.com    Jim Maiella   Cablevision   516-803-3947   jmaiella@cablevision.com    Susan Tolchin   Westchester County   914-995-2932   stt1@westchestergov.com  

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: kathleen@0to5.com

Source: Optimum Lightpath

CONTACT: Nicholas Rae of Optimum Lightpath, +1-516-803-1172,
nrae@optimumlightpath.com; or Jim Maiella of Cablevision, +1-516-803-3947,
jmaiella@cablevision.com; or Jennifer Moritz of Zer0 to 5ive, +1-917-748-4006,
jmoritz@0to5.com, for Optimum Lightpath; or Susan Tolchin of Westchester
County, +1-914-995-2932, stt1@westchestergov.com

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

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Profile: International Entertainment