Optical Solutions Inc. announced that the City of Burlington, Vermont (pop. 39,000) is deploying a municipal FTTH network using Optical Solutions' FiberPath 500 GPON (gigabit passive optical network) access platform. The next-generation network will pass nearly 20,000 premises, giving both residents and business owners the opportunity to receive virtually unlimited data speed service, carrier-class quality voice, and next-generation IPTV video.

The Burlington deployment is a major coup for city officials who struggled for many years - against heavy lobbying by opposing service providers - to change the state's charter to allow a municipal telecommunications operation.

"By building and operating our own state-of-the-art telecommunications utility we're introducing more choices to the marketplace, and we're also nurturing our city's highly artistic and entrepreneurial culture," said Burlington Telecom Director Tim Nulty. "Greater than one out of 10 people in Burlington operate a home-based business, and many more - such as graphic artists, software engineers - work remotely from home one or more days out of the week. OSI's FiberPath 500 system is ideal for large e-file sharing, video streaming, gaming and more. And the best part is we can offer this superior service at 10 - 20 percent less than what the competition charges."

Now in its first phase of deployment, Burlington Telecom is currently testing services and expects to initiate the complete triple-play to 2,400 homes and businesses by the first of the New Year. The city will seek additional capital lease financing before building out its FTTH network to remaining dwellings in 2006.

"We studied various network architectures and visited many sites - including Optical Solutions' deployment in Bristol, Virginia - before ultimately selecting GPON," Nulty said. "The FiberPath 500 system is the most cost-effective and flexible way for the city to build an advanced network because unlike an active electronics system, passive optics allow us to build the underlying network without having to invest in the electronics at the side of the home until someone signs up for services. Moreover, with GPON, we do not have to invest in or maintain outdoor enclosures that require active power and climate control."

Optical Solutions' FiberPath 500 system is the industry frontrunner in GPON access solutions. FiberPath 500 offers superlative bandwidth for delivery of advanced services, including symmetrical high-speed data service, IPTV and VoIP, as well as traditional carrier-class voice service - e.g. TDM, POTS, T-1s, E911. The FiberPath 500 system is fully compliant with ITU FSAN standards, and is the market leader in FTTH-based IPTV deployments.

"We are very pleased to be part of this landmark FTTH deployment in Burlington, and we're excited about the many ways in which our GPON system will be leveraged - from allowing local musicians and film producers to air their concerts and films on a dedicated city arts channel, to giving subscribers static IP addresses so friends around town can join in robust online game play," said Optical Solutions President and CEO Mike Dagenais. "Burlington is a shining example of how FTTH can enhance quality of life and commerce in a community."