AT&T Selects ANTEC To Supply The Arris Cornerstone
Cable Telephony System Contract Worth Up To $900
Million
PR Newswire - October 28, 1998 16:42
NORCROSS, Ga., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- ANTEC Corporation (Nasdaq: ANTC) announced
today that AT&T (NYSE: T) has signed a contract with ANTEC and Arris Interactive, a Nortel
Networks (NYSE: NT)/ANTEC joint venture, to purchase their Cornerstone cable telephony
communications system to serve up to 2,000,000 homes. Under the agreement AT&T can deploy
Cornerstone over Tele- Communications, Inc.'s (TCI) (Nasdaq: TCOMA) more than 17 million home
service area. Arris Interactive (Arris) designs and manufactures the Cornerstone product family of
highly reliable digital cable communications products. The initial order for over $50,000,000 of
Cornerstone product begins shipping to AT&T immediately and represents the first step in an
agreement, which ANTEC believes could result in sales of up to $900,000,000. ANTEC is Arris'
exclusive sales channel to AT&T for the Cornerstone Host Digital Terminals and Voice Ports.
ANTEC will also continue to make available engineering, program management, installation and field
support services as well as the required hybrid fiber/coax infrastructure necessary to provide a
complete communication services offering.
"The Cornerstone system is a loop transport system with the flexibility to provide digital, high capacity,
high quality traffic to either switched circuit or to rapidly developing internet protocol (IP) networks
worldwide," said John Egan, ANTEC Chairman & CEO. "The market demands for and the
technology capabilities of Cornerstone are very strong and already proven."
The company noted that more cable operators have deployed Cornerstone world-wide than any other
cable telephony product. Operators commercially deploying Cornerstone include Cox, TCI,
Cablevision Lightpath, Time Warner, Titus Communications (Japan), VTR Telefonica (Chile), Jupiter
Telecommunications (Japan), Priority Telecom (Austria) and several other operators.
"This agreement represents a significant event for our industry," said Bob Stanzione, ANTEC President
& Chief Operating Officer, "and marks a further acceleration of competition in the local loop. We were
pleased with the prospects of participating in TCI's accelerated network upgrades when the AT&T
merger was announced. Now we know that we will participate fully in the deployment of
communications services on those networks. TCI is one of our most important customers and the
importance of that relationship will continue as a result of the AT&T agreement."
The Cornerstone system consists of a Host Digital Terminal located at the cable headend connected to
Voice Ports located at homes or businesses. It converts voice into digital signals at the Voice Port for
transmission over the cable operator's hybrid fiber/ coax plant. The system has been deployed
commercially for over two years and has proven to be robust and reliable in 13 different systems to
date. The Voice Port is an environmentally hardened unit designed for the rigors of outside plant
deployment in diverse operating conditions. It features low power consumption which allows the units
to be economically powered for "lifeline" phone service. The system delivers all the standard telephony
features (e.g. caller ID, call waiting and high-speed modems) which consumers have come to expect
from their local phone service provider.
"AT&T is the world's leading brand of communications service and Arris is pleased they have selected
our Cornerstone platform to support their thrust into local telephony," said Guy Gill, President and
CEO of Arris Interactive. "Cornerstone delivers premium quality digital communications services today
and can economically migrate to support IP services without stranded investments."
Arris Interactive sells its products through ANTEC for US cable operators and through Nortel
Networks for other US operators, international network operators and Canadian cable companies.
ANTEC Corporation (http://www.antec.com) is an international communications technology company
serving the broadband information transport industries. ANTEC specializes in the manufacturing,
materials management and distribution of products for hybrid fiber/coax broadband networks, as well
as the design and engineering of these networks. Headquartered in Norcross, Georgia, ANTEC has
sales offices in Europe, Asia/Pacific and Latin America; major divisional offices in Norcross, Georgia
and Denver, Colorado; and manufacturing facilities in Juarez, Mexico, El Paso, Texas, Tinton Falls,
New Jersey and Rock Falls, Illinois.
Forward looking statements: The statements in this press release that use such words as "believe",
"expect", "intend", "anticipate", "contemplate", "estimate", or "plan" or similar expressions are
forward-looking statements. Our business is dependent upon general economic conditions as well as
competitive, technological, and regulatory developments and trends specific to our industry and
customers. These conditions and events could be substantially different than we believe or expect and
these differences may cause our actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements
we have made or the results, which could be expected to accompany such statements. Specific factors
which could cause such material differences include the following: Design or manufacturing defects in
our products which could curtail sales and subject us to substantial costs for removal, replacement and
reinstallation of such products; manufacturing or product development problems that we do not
anticipate because of our relative experience with these activities; an inability to absorb or adjust our
costs in response to lower sales volumes than we anticipate; unanticipated costs or inefficiencies from
the ongoing consolidation of certain of our activities; loss of key management, sales or technical
employees; decisions by our larger customers to cancel contracts or orders as they are entitled to do
or not to enter into new contracts or orders with us because of dissatisfaction, technological or
competitive changes, changes in control or other reasons; and inability as a result of our relative
experience to deliver construction services within anticipated costs and time frames which could cause
loss of business, operating losses and damage claims. The above listing of factors is representative of
the factors which could affect our forward-looking statements and is not intended as an all
encompassing list of such factors. In providing forward-looking statements we are not undertaking any
obligation to update publicly or otherwise these statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
Cornerstone is a trademark of Northern Telecom under license to Arris
Interactive.
Voice Port is a trademark of Arris Interactive.
Visit www.arris-i.com for other recent press releases on Cornerstone, a list of all current Cornerstone
customers and a basic tutorial on cable telephony.
SOURCE ANTEC Corporation
/CONTACT: Jim Bauer, Investor Relations, ANTEC Corporation,
847-439-4444, jim.bauer@antec.com/
/Web site: antec.com
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