Eastern Slope taps Ribbon Communications for network upgrade

WESTFORD, Mass. – Ribbon Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: RBBN), a global provider of real time communications software and IP Optical Transport solutions to service providers, enterprises, and critical infrastructure sectors, today announced that Eastern Slope Rural Telephone, a regional provider of high quality communications services to customers in eastern Colorado, has upgraded its network with Ribbon's IP and Optical Transport solutions. The Ribbon Neptune IP Transport and Apollo Optical Transport solutions enable Eastern Slope to dramatically increase the capacity of its broadband network in anticipation of continued rapid growth and deliver faster broadband speeds to its residential and business customers. Ribbon worked with strategic partner, KGPCo on the project.

"Because our previous network was approaching end-of-life and had limited capacity, we needed to upgrade to an end-to-end next-generation system that would easily accommodate current and future growth without disrupting service to our existing customers," said Brian Miller, Manager at Eastern Slope. "The Ribbon IP and Optical Transport solutions met all of our requirements. In addition to delivering a highly scalable solution that easily accommodates future bandwidth growth, they also enable numerous benefits including allowing us to continue to support legacy TDM services and provide additional support for mobile backhaul and business services."

Miller continued, "We were also looking for a turnkey solution that would come with a high-level of support and the Ribbon team's world-class professional services organization was the perfect fit."

"Eastern Slope is already leveraging our market-leading Call Control solutions, so we are delighted to help them expand the capacity of their network and increase customer broadband speeds with our IP and Optical Transport solutions," said Elizabeth Page, U.S. Rural Market Director for Ribbon. "This is another great example of how existing Ribbon Cloud and Edge customers can also leverage our IP and Optical Transport solutions to expand and help future-proof their broadband networks, while enhancing end-customer offerings."

"KGPCo is excited to partner with Ribbon to help Eastern Slope upgrade their communications network," said Desi O'Grady, Senior Vice President of KGPCo. "KGPCo and Ribbon have developed a strong relationship that leverages our respective strengths to support our customers. From procurement to implementation, KGPCo worked closely with Ribbon to create a customized solution to meet Eastern Slope's requirements."

Ribbon's market-leading Neptune and Apollo platforms provide Eastern Slope with advanced Layer 2 Ethernet aggregation capabilities along with a next-generation Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) network to deliver faster data speeds.

Ribbon Communications Inc.