CityTel News Releases

CityTel News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 17, 1998

New Cisco Networking Backbone Establishes Prince Rupert as a Community of the Future

Partnership with Cisco Systems Brings High Speed Internet Accessto Homes, Schools, Government and Businesses in Prince Rupert, B.C.

TORONTO, Ontario and PRINCE RUPERT, British Columbia -- February 17, 1998 --Cisco Systems Canada Co. and Prince Rupert CityTel today announced the completion of an agreement to begin the commercial deployment of asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) technology, a high speed Internet access service, in northern British Columbia. The agreement between Cisco and Prince Rupert CityTel will make Prince Rupert, a community of 17,000 near the Queen Charlotte islands, one of the first Canadian communities to have access to ADSL high speed Internet access.

The program will eventually be made available to the 6,000 residences and 1,000 businesses in Prince Rupert. This will allow standard telephone lines to act as high speed data transmission lines and telephone lines at the same time. The data lines will provide high speed data services to customers throughout the city using ADSL Technology. Because ADSL operates as a dedicated connection to the Internet, no dial-up connections are required, allowing users to have an "always connected" link to the Internet.

About ADSL Technolgy

Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) technologies enable "last mile" high-speed transmission from service provider to customer premises over most twisted-pair copper wiring, such as telephone lines. Contrary to what its name implies, DSL refers to modem technology, not to the line itself. A pair of xDSL modems on a standard copper line constitutes a DSL connection. While many standards have been defined, most xDSL technologies fall into one of four categories. High Data-Rate DSL (HDSL), Single-Line DSL (SDSL),Very-High-Rate DSL (VDSL) and Asymmetric DSL (ADSL).

With ADSL, available bandwidth on copper telephone wires is unevenly divided, and the larger portion is allocated to bandwidth-intensive data traffic travelling towards the customer site. This allows customers requiring access to data-intensive applications or large amounts of information from head office computers or web sites to receive great amounts of information over standard telephone wires. ADSL is ideal for small or home office wide-area network (WAN) applications such as interactive video, client/server applications, and telecommuting, where most data flows only one way.

Prince Rupert CityTel has chosen Cisco to provide the core of this data network which consists of routing and switching products, routing for segmentation, security and broadcast control and switching for high speed customer access. These technologies will create a reliable, consistent and secure network connection.

"Cisco Systems is committed to delivering rich networking services to our customers, wherever they reside," said Rob Lloyd, general manager, Cisco Systems Canada Co. "We believe ADSL is more than remote access, it is the means to extend the benefits of an internetwork to people in communities of any size, in any location. Cisco applauds Prince Rupert CityTel for its forward looking approach in implementing this new infrastructure."

"As ADSL service becomes more prevalent, it will dramatically transform the way computer users around the globe do business," said CityTel's General Manager Bruce Kerr. "Prince Rupert City Tel is implementing ADSL to allow households, government offices, schools and businesses throughout our community to use the most advanced technologies as a competitive tool."

The near-term uses for ADSL in Prince Rupert will be Internet access, telecommuting, and connecting remote offices. Prince Rupert CityTel and Cisco Systems anticipate these three applications will prove the value of ADSL and pave the way for a new generation of value-added network services such as streaming audio, streaming video, conferencing, and telephony.

Prince Rupert CityTel

CityTel is a municipally owned telephone company with more than $11 million in annual revenues. The City of Prince Rupert purchased CityTel in 1912 and, since then, the local telco has been a leader in the community, contributing to the city's general revenue fund, thus enabling the city to buffer the municipal taxes by approximately ten per cent. It provides complete telecommunications services to the area through its Mobility, Business Services, Residential Services and Internet Service Provider (ISP), CityLink. CityTel has worked closely with a number of partners and vendors on the provision of this high speed Internet service including Deloitte Consulting, Westell Technologies, Ikon Business Services and IBM.

Cisco Systems Canada Co.

Cisco Systems Inc. is a multinational corporation with more than $6 billion (U.S.) in annual revenues and more than 11,000 employees worldwide. Cisco Systems Canada Co. (formerly Cisco Systems Canada Ltd.) was established by Cisco Systems in 1990 and is the 12th largest IT company in Canada. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company has more than 135 employees in Canada with regional sales and services offices in Dartmouth, NS; Moncton, NB; Quebec City, PQ; Montreal, PQ; Ottawa, ON; London, ON; Winnipeg, MB; Calgary, AB; Edmonton, AB; and Vancouver, BC.

Cisco produces networking solutions for enterprise organizations, service providers and small/medium businesses. With 80 per cent of the backbone of the global Internet built with Cisco Systems, Cisco is empowering the Internet generation. Cisco also uses the Internet to conduct a substantial amount of its own business. Cisco provides more than 70 per cent of its customer support over the Internet and since August of 1996, the value of Cisco product orders handled over the Internet have surpassed the $1 billion (U. S.) mark.

Additional information on the company and its products can be accessed on the Internet at http://www.cisco.com or http://www.cisco.com/ca/.

-30-

For Additional Media Information:

Robert Lloyd
General Manager
Cisco Systems Canada Co.
416-216-8026
E-mail: rlloyd@cisco.com Martha Thornton
Strategic/Ampersand Inc.
416-961-5595 ext. 429
E-mail:martha@stratamp.com

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	CityTel News Release
	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 17, 1998 New Cisco Networking Backbone Establishes Prince Rupert as a Community of the Future Partnership with Cisco Systems Brings High Speed Internet Accessto Homes, Schools, Government and Businesses in Prince Rupert, B.C. TORONTO, Ontario and PRINCE RUPERT, British Columbia -- February 17, 1998 --Cisco Systems Canada Co. and Prince Rupert CityTel today announced the completion of an agreement to begin the commercial deployment of asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) technology, a high speed Internet access service, in northern British Columbia. The agreement between Cisco and Prince Rupert CityTel will make Prince Rupert, a community of 17,000 near the Queen Charlotte islands, one of the first Canadian communities to have access to ADSL high speed Internet access. The program will eventually be made available to the 6,000 residences and 1,000 businesses in Prince Rupert. This will allow standard telephone lines to act as high speed data transmission lines and telephone lines at the same time. The data lines will provide high speed data services to customers throughout the city using ADSL Technology. Because ADSL operates as a dedicated connection to the Internet, no dial-up connections are required, allowing users to have an "always connected" link to the Internet. About ADSL Technolgy Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) technologies enable "last mile" high-speed transmission from service provider to customer premises over most twisted-pair copper wiring, such as telephone lines. Contrary to what its name implies, DSL refers to modem technology, not to the line itself. A pair of xDSL modems on a standard copper line constitutes a DSL connection. While many standards have been defined, most xDSL technologies fall into one of four categories. High Data-Rate DSL (HDSL), Single-Line DSL (SDSL),Very-High-Rate DSL (VDSL) and Asymmetric DSL (ADSL). With ADSL, available bandwidth on copper telephone wires is unevenly divided, and the larger portion is allocated to bandwidth-intensive data traffic travelling towards the customer site. This allows customers requiring access to data-intensive applications or large amounts of information from head office computers or web sites to receive great amounts of information over standard telephone wires. ADSL is ideal for small or home office wide-area network (WAN) applications such as interactive video, client/server applications, and telecommuting, where most data flows only one way. Prince Rupert CityTel has chosen Cisco to provide the core of this data network which consists of routing and switching products, routing for segmentation, security and broadcast control and switching for high speed customer access. These technologies will create a reliable, consistent and secure network connection. "Cisco Systems is committed to delivering rich networking services to our customers, wherever they reside," said Rob Lloyd, general manager, Cisco Systems Canada Co. "We believe ADSL is more than remote access, it is the means to extend the benefits of an internetwork to people in communities of any size, in any location. Cisco applauds Prince Rupert CityTel for its forward looking approach in implementing this new infrastructure." "As ADSL service becomes more prevalent, it will dramatically transform the way computer users around the globe do business," said CityTel's General Manager Bruce Kerr. "Prince Rupert City Tel is implementing ADSL to allow households, government offices, schools and businesses throughout our community to use the most advanced technologies as a competitive tool." The near-term uses for ADSL in Prince Rupert will be Internet access, telecommuting, and connecting remote offices. Prince Rupert CityTel and Cisco Systems anticipate these three applications will prove the value of ADSL and pave the way for a new generation of value-added network services such as streaming audio, streaming video, conferencing, and telephony. Prince Rupert CityTel CityTel is a municipally owned telephone company with more than $11 million in annual revenues. The City of Prince Rupert purchased CityTel in 1912 and, since then, the local telco has been a leader in the community, contributing to the city's general revenue fund, thus enabling the city to buffer the municipal taxes by approximately ten per cent. It provides complete telecommunications services to the area through its Mobility, Business Services, Residential Services and Internet Service Provider (ISP), CityLink. CityTel has worked closely with a number of partners and vendors on the provision of this high speed Internet service including Deloitte Consulting, Westell Technologies, Ikon Business Services and IBM. Cisco Systems Canada Co. Cisco Systems Inc. is a multinational corporation with more than $6 billion (U.S.) in annual revenues and more than 11,000 employees worldwide. Cisco Systems Canada Co. (formerly Cisco Systems Canada Ltd.) was established by Cisco Systems in 1990 and is the 12th largest IT company in Canada. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company has more than 135 employees in Canada with regional sales and services offices in Dartmouth, NS; Moncton, NB; Quebec City, PQ; Montreal, PQ; Ottawa, ON; London, ON; Winnipeg, MB; Calgary, AB; Edmonton, AB; and Vancouver, BC. Cisco produces networking solutions for enterprise organizations, service providers and small/medium businesses. With 80 per cent of the backbone of the global Internet built with Cisco Systems, Cisco is empowering the Internet generation. Cisco also uses the Internet to conduct a substantial amount of its own business. Cisco provides more than 70 per cent of its customer support over the Internet and since August of 1996, the value of Cisco product orders handled over the Internet have surpassed the $1 billion (U. S.) mark. Additional information on the company and its products can be accessed on the Internet at http://www.cisco.com or http://www.cisco.com/ca/. -30- For Additional Media Information:
	Robert Lloyd General Manager Cisco Systems Canada Co. 416-216-8026 E-mail: rlloyd@cisco.com	Martha Thornton Strategic/Ampersand Inc. 416-961-5595 ext. 429 E-mail:martha@stratamp.com
	Back to CityTel News Releases Email CityTel: citytel@citytel.net