Knology Picks Riverstone

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Riverstone Networks (RSTN.PK), a leader in Carrier Ethernet technology, today announced that U.S. cable operator Knology, Inc. (Nasdaq: KNOL) is deploying Riverstone's 15008 Ethernet Edge Routers to enhance its offering of Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) to its enterprise customers in select cities within Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. The business service allows Knology to aggressively compete with the incumbent service providers by providing enterprise customers a reliable and cost-effective high-bandwidth Virtual Private Network (VPN) alternative.

By deploying VPLS, Knology allows its enterprise customers to communicate over a wide area network (WAN) as if they were connected via a private Ethernet LAN. Using VPLS, Knology's business customers are able to enjoy intra-company networks that look and act the same across all of a company's office sites. Moreover, they are benefiting from the cost-savings of bundled services including VoIP telephony services running atop the VPLS network.

As more and more phone companies enter the video services market, cable operators are increasingly entering the business services market -- previously the stronghold of the incumbent telephone and data providers -- to gain market share and grow their businesses.

"VPLS provides our customers with an attractive alternative to other VPN services by allowing them to maintain control of their internal routed networks while still enjoying the benefits of a carrier-managed service," said Bradley Frye, Senior Manager of Data Network Operations, Knology. "Using the Riverstone 15008, we can seamlessly and cost effectively migrate our customers from ATM and leased-line services to VPLS for added reliability, scalability and high bandwidth. The 10-GigE capabilities of the Riverstone 15008 allow us to not only build high-capacity networks today but to future proof high-bandwidth service delivery for years to come."

"Knology was among the first cable providers to recognize the advantages of an Ethernet infrastructure and we're proud to have played a role in the evolution and growth of their network infrastructure over the past five years," said Dan Middleton, General Manager and Vice President of Sales, North America, Riverstone Networks. "With the deployment of VPLS, Knology is again taking a technological leadership position among the multiservice operators (MSOs)."

Riverstone Networks Inc. (OTC: RSTN.PK)