Cavalier Telephone, a leading provider of integrated local, long-distance, Internet and data communication services in the Mid-Atlantic region, announced that it is deploying Lucent Technologies' converged Ethernet solution to enable its new Cavalier Broadband TV, Internet Protocol (IP) TV service offering. Cavalier Telephone announced the rollout of its advanced broadband TV offering last fall and plans to offer a full suite of video products that will allow users to receive 150 digital video and music channels, a full featured interactive program guide, on-screen caller ID, and digital set top boxes.

Cavalier's "Triple Play" offering includes local and long distance phone service, high speed DSL Internet access and broadband IPTV. The Cavalier IPTV service will be based on "MPEG4" video technology, which will support the delivery of very high-quality video over Cavalier's existing metropolitan fiber optic network -- based on Lucent's Metropolis DMX portfolio of metro optical networking products -- and delivered to subscribers using its broadband asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL2+) system.

"We recently completed our Richmond deployment of Lucent's DMX platform with advanced Ethernet over SONET capabilities. This converged gigabit Ethernet solution will allow us to multicast video over our ADSL2+, providing data speeds of up to 24 Megabits per second (Mbps) for combined voice, video and data services," said Brad Evans, CEO of Cavalier Telephone. "At Cavalier, we're known to be early adopters of breakthrough technology and we are using Lucent's converged Ethernet capabilities to continue leading the way in advanced broadband IPTV."

Under the agreement, Lucent is upgrading Cavalier's Metropolis DMX platforms with Lucent's LNW70 Ethernet cards, which enable operators to offer 100 Mbps or Gigabit Ethernet services, delivered with the quality of service (QoS) capabilities of today's advanced optical networking systems. This enhanced converged Ethernet solution can support numerous classes of service (CoS) and prioritization of data traffic, enabling Cavalier to deliver the bandwidth needed to guarantee certain quality levels for voice and video services.

"Cavalier Telephone was one of Lucent's first Metropolis DMX customers when we introduced the product four years ago and is realizing the advantages to going with DMX for their breakthrough IPTV service offering," said Gerry Cafaro, vice president of sales for Lucent Technologies. "Cavalier is able to add advanced Ethernet switching to their existing DMX network, optimized for the delivery of video and other multimedia services without a new overlay deployment."

With over 12,000 units already deployed, the Metropolis DMX portfolio is being used by more than 100 customers worldwide. The Metropolis DMX family includes the DMX Access Multiplexer for central office and large enterprise applications, DMXtend Multiplexer for enterprise and loop access applications, and DMXplore multiplexer to deliver next-generation SONET services economically right to the customer's premises. All provide compatible next-generation SONET functionality and serve as integrated Ethernet over SONET metro platforms. When used together, the products in the portfolio create an end-to-end solution that allows carriers to offer faster, more sophisticated services while lowering operating costs. The Metropolis DMX family also is Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) Carrier Ethernet Certified compliant. For more information about DMX, please visit: http://www.lucent.com/dmx.