Electric Lightwave Accesses Vina

NEWARK, Calif. -- VINA Technologies (Nasdaq: VINA), the company that makes metro access more profitable, today announced that Electric Lightwave Inc., a division wholly owned by Citizens Telephone, has signed a contract for VINA's industry leading integrated access devices (IADs). The VINA Integrator and VINA eLink IADs integrate voice, data, and Internet services over a single T1 line and are designed to meet the specific needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). VINA's IADs will be deployed as part of Electric Lightwave's Custom integrated access service that is sold in California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona and Washington."Dropping prices of T1 lines and smaller line-sized IADs are allowing carriers to market integrated services to smaller businesses and differentiate themselves from incumbent carriers' service portfolios," said Michael Lauricella, program manager at The Yankee Group. "By using IADs to deliver bundled services, carriers are able to avoid regulatory issues and deliver higher Internet/data bandwidth at a more affordable price to the sweet spot of the SMB market.""VINA gave us a lower overall cost, greater flexibility, and increased reliability in an IAD to help us provide better services to our customers," said Michael Golob, vice president of engineering and operations for Electric Lightwave. "Now we can affordably customize the bandwidth capacity and voice lines on VINA's IADs to meet the specific needs of our SMB customers.""T1-based integrated access is the growth driver that enables ELI to deliver more competitive voice and data services to the SMB market," said Mike West, chief executive officer of VINA Technologies. "We have worked aggressively to enable Independent Telcos, like ELI, to cost-effectively expand out of territory."Electric Lightwave Inc.Vina Technologies Inc.