BACKGROUND For more than one hundred years, Thunder Bay Telephone (TBayTel) has relentlessly pursued excellence in technology and service throughout the Thunder Bay region — from high quality, reliable and affordable local telephone service, to continuous cellular coverage across Northwestern Ontario, to fast, affordable and reliable high- speed Internet. TBayTel, a high-tech leader, is a major economic engine for the area as well as a leading corporate citizen — and a community telephone company ready for the next 100 years. Canada’s largest independent telephone company, TBayTel is adopting new technologies at a dizzying speed and is leading the way in rolling out Ethernet services to its business customers. THE PROBLEM Ontario Hydro Energy asked TBayTel to provide Ethernet service to a remote location approximately 30 miles away. TBayTel currently served multiple DS1s over fiber using legacy FMT-6 equipment that provided up to 6 DS1s over a fiber. As Ontario Hydro’s bandwidth needs increased, TBayTel was faced with the problem of burning additional fibers and adding hard-to-find legacy equipment to address the customer’s requirements. A new solution was needed NEW ETHERNET SERVICES FOR BUSINESS CUSTOMERS TBayTel, Canada’s Largest Independent Phone Company CASE STUDY because the current deployment didn’t provide a cost-effective use of the fiber, and with multiple FMT-6s, the operational complexity would increase. Another challenge was the lack of any fiber facilities between the drop point on One Island and the customer’s network. In fact, the only connection between the two sites was a microwave radio link. As a result, it was impossible to provide Ontario Hydro Energy with a direct Ethernet connection. THE ADC SOLUTION TBayTel turned to ADC for a solution. And ADC’s LoopStar ™ 800 next-generation SONET access system was deployed to provide low cost Ethernet service that connected the rural locations. TBayTel installed an OC-3 point-to- point configuration between One Island and Lappe in Ontario using the LoopStar 800 platform to deliver a DS3 to Ontario Hydro. After transporting the DS3 via the microwave radio, media converters were used to convert the DS3s to Ethernet. With the remaining capacity, TBayTel realized the same platform could support other services, so the company purchased additional service delivery cards to extend the reach of DSL services and provide greater bandwidth to existing customers. With the LoopStar 800, TBayTel can easily add new services or new customers within the same platform to generate additional revenues while minimizing further capital expenditures. BENEFITS REALIZED BY THE CUSTOMER “The ADC solution is highly scalable and offers robust multi-service capabilities that allowed us to save eight fiber strands, double our capacity to these serving areas and recover hard-to-find equipment that can be used in other applications,” said George Armstrong, Network Engineering and Operations at TBayTel. “All of these represent significant cost savings to our company. ADC also provided first-class service and support from product configuration and staging to speed of equipment delivery.” Featuring advanced management capabilities and a web-based local craft terminal (LCT), the LoopStar 800 enabled TBayTel to avoid the operational complexity of managing multiple systems and the installation of an expensive element management system that requires a dedicated server. Designed for both central office and customer premises environments, the system offers a compact, modular design and low power consumption that significantly reduce operational costs and simplify deployment. With the LoopStar 800 system, TBayTel can optimize its existing resources to enable customer retention and simultaneously add new revenue- generating services and customers. The flexibility and density of the LoopStar 800 makes it easy to increase revenues while minimizing further capital and operational expenditures. ADC Telecommunications, Inc., P.O. Box 1101, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA 55440-1101 Specifications published here are current as of the date of publication of this document. Because we are continuously improving our products, ADC reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice. At any time, you may verify product specifications by contacting our headquarters office in Minneapolis. ADC Telecommunications, Inc. views its patent portfolio as an important corporate asset and vigorously enforces its patents. Products or features contained herein may be covered by one or more U.S. or foreign patents. An Equal Opportunity Employer 1319891 3/05 Original © 2005 ADC Telecommunications, Inc. All Rights Reserved Web Site: www.adc.com From North America, Call Toll Free: 1-800-366-3891 • Outside of North America: +1-952-938-8080 Fax: +1-952-917-3237 • For a listing of ADC’s global sales office locations, please refer to our web site. CASE STUDY . equipment to address the customer’s requirements. A new solution was needed NEW ETHERNET SERVICES FOR BUSINESS CUSTOMERS TBayTel, Canada’s Largest Independent. bandwidth to existing customers. With the LoopStar 800, TBayTel can easily add new services or new customers within the same platform to generate additional