Charter Picks Harmonic for VPN Services

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Harmonic Inc. (Nasdaq: HLIT) today announced that Charter Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: CHTR) has deployed the FLXLink™ Commercial Services Solution to deliver ultra high-speed network services to business, government and education customers in Southern California. Based on Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) technology, Harmonic’s FLXLink solution makes it feasible and practical to deliver Internet, Virtual Private Network (VPN) and other managed services with access speeds that can scale to one Gigabit per second (Gbps).

Charter’s new ultra high-speed commercial services complement its existing cable modem offerings which, in addition to the primary application of residential Internet access, are used by small businesses and schools. Initial deployments in Los Angeles and the surrounding area use Harmonic’s FLXLink 100-Mbps CWDM and the recently introduced 1-Gbps CWDM transport systems to securely deliver Ethernet/IP services to even the largest businesses, government facilities and educational institutions. With sufficient bandwidth to support data, voice and video over IP solutions, Charter’s service will enable advanced interactive commercial applications such as video-based distance learning and remote medical consultation.

“Charter is aggressively pursuing the commercial services market and the Los Angeles region is one of the key areas for this initiative,” said Scott Hansen, Vice President of the Commercial Services Western Division for Charter Communications, Inc. “Our networks directly pass or are within a nominal distance of thousands of prospective commercial customers. Harmonic’s exceptional understanding of access networks and how to utilize the existing infrastructure to deliver new services makes it possible for Charter to turn those prospective customers into a new source of revenue. Harmonic’s FLXLink solution offers a practical and versatile way to meet the increasing bandwidth requirements of this important new market segment.”

Charter Communications