Nex-Tech Selects SkyStream Mediaplex

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- SkyStream Networks®, the leader in IP video solutions, today announced that Nex-Tech, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rural Telephone Service Company, serving communities in western Kansas, has purchased and deployed SkyStream's Mediaplex-20(TM) to offer a digital television service over ADSL and fiber networks to its customers throughout the state.

Rural Telephone Service Company offers sophisticated switched telecommunication services through a digital network with over 1,000 miles of fiber optic cable and 11,000 access lines. Currently, Rural Telephone offers traditional cable television services through its subsidiary, Nex-Tech, which utilizes coaxial and fiber optic cable to deliver television services and entertainment programming. SkyStream's Mediaplex allows Nex-Tech to roll out advanced IP video services to all customers regardless of whether they have copper or fiber optic lines running into their homes or businesses.

"After two years of evaluating different products, we chose SkyStream's Mediaplex-20 because of its reliability and ability to support our hybrid network with multiple interfaces," said Larry Sevier, chief executive officer of Rural Telephone Service Company. "Mediaplex allows us to deliver IP video over ADSL today, with the option of offering video over fiber in the future, as we build out our fiber network."

Nex-Tech's video-over-DSL offering will include over 170 channels of broadcast-quality television, including national, specialty and local programming, 45 digital music channels, interactive pay-per-view and video-on-demand services. Nex-Tech uses basic asymmetrical DSL (ADSL) to multicast video services over its network at bit rates of 2.3 to 3.5 Mb/s.

"Rural is a visionary service provider they haven't let any technical barriers stand in the way of delivering advanced video services to all their customers," said Jim Olson, president and CEO, SkyStream Networks. "Our products allow telcos to get more mileage from their existing networks and still meet customer demands for video services."

SkyStream's Mediaplex-20 is a single chassis, all-in-one video delivery platform and is the industry's only platform that can serve as both a master video headend and edge video platform. Mediaplex-20 receives the video content via satellite and analog channels for advanced encoding. In addition to encoding, Mediaplex also provides video multiplexing and de-multiplexing, video rate-shaping, transrating, stream replication, and ATM to IP conversion. By seamlessly encoding analog local and community based channels with standard video preprocessing, the Mediaplex-20 delivers IP video over any last mile (ADSL, FTTH, CATV).

SkyStream Networks Inc.