SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Occam Networks(R) Inc. (OTCBB: OCCM), a supplier of innovative Ethernet- and IP-based loop carrier equipment to telecommunications companies worldwide, today announced that Pineland Telephone Cooperative selected the company's Occam BLC 6000(TM) System to deliver a full array of Triple Play services to residences and businesses in an eight-county area of south central Georgia. Currently the cooperative has installed the Occam BLC 6000 in approximately 35 remote cabinets and is delivering POTS, ADSL and IP Video service to its subscribers, with hundreds of its 13,000-plus subscribers receiving IP Video service to date.

In 2001, Pineland began a five-year plan to shorten its local loops with a goal of bringing the electronics closer to the subscriber. At the time, the cooperative's access network was ATM-based, but as it began the process of shortening its local loops it became clear that the industry was moving to IP and Ethernet technologies in the access network.

"Although we had an investment in ATM, it simply made more sense for us to move to these technologies for all the usual reasons -- IP and Ethernet are simpler, more cost-effective, provide much greater flexibility and enable us to easily scale our networks to meet our requirements," said Richard P. Price, general manager of Pineland Telephone. "We've been using the IP- and Ethernet-based Occam BLC 6000 since 2003, and we are very pleased with our decision to make the technology shift and with our selection of the Occam BLC."

Pineland began using the BLC 6000 to deliver POTS and ADSL. In 2004, the cooperative made the decision to begin offering IP video services to its subscribers, building their own video headend and using the BLC 6000's Ethernet capability as a transport for the video stream. According to Price, "One of the real benefits of the Occam product is its ability to transport and deliver a wide variety of services from a single piece of equipment. Once we built the video headend, turning up IP Video service was a relatively painless process for the company."

Pineland trialed the Occam BLC over a period of more than nine months and chose the Ethernet-based BLC 6000 over products from a variety of vendors because it met their IP/Ethernet and video requirements.

"We are very comfortable working with Occam," Price said. "The staff has broad experience in the IP/Ethernet space, their support is superb and they are always ready to help us with planning our networks."

"Pineland is a very forward-thinking organization," said Russ Sharer, vice president of sales and marketing for Occam. "It has readily embraced the Occam IP/Ethernet vision, and that vision is paying off for them in a superior service offering to their cooperative and a fast and broad uptake in video subscriptions."

Occam Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: OCNW)