BigBand Networks Inc., a provider of broadband multimedia infrastructure for video, voice and data, announced that it has signed a five-year agreement with Suddenlink Communications. The cable operator is using the BigBand FastFlow® Broadband Provisioning Manager (BPM) to provision and manage DOCSIS® services such as High-Speed Data (HSD) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) across a geographically dispersed, multi-vendor network environment.

Last May, Suddenlink closed an acquisition of cable systems that serve approximately 900,000 subscribers in parts of eight states from Cox Communications. Suddenlink closed an additional acquisition in July of cable systems that serve approximately 240,000 customers in parts of four states from Charter Communications. Cox had been using FastFlow to provision its systems, and the new agreement extends FastFlow's coverage to the balance of Suddenlink's cable systems. Suddenlink also uses BigBand's Broadband Multimedia-Services Router (BMR®) and Cuda® cable modem termination system (CMTS) platform for video, voice and data services in multiple locations.

"Suddenlink has very quickly grown into one of the larger cable operators in the U.S., and BigBand's FastFlow made that transition much easier," said Jeff Strout, Suddenlink's vice president of IP engineering and operations. "FastFlow's intuitive user interface gave us extensive visibility into service delivery on our new, multi-vendor networks and made service deployment much easier than we anticipated. The platform is also designed to scale well to support additional growth."

FastFlow and other provisioning management software applications have become increasingly popular for service provisioning as cable networks have evolved from the closed systems of the past to the standards-based, multi-vendor environments of today. FastFlow is interoperable with a wide range of devices from multiple vendors, including cable modems, set-top boxes, multimedia terminal adaptors, and CMTS. Though FastFlow is adept at provisioning widely distributed networks, such as Suddenlink's, the product also performs well in centralized networks.

"Suddenlink's decision to use BigBand's FastFlow BPM in the systems it acquired from Cox, and to expand its use of the product to its other systems is a powerful testament to the solution's scalability and multi-vendor capabilities," said Pirjo Tuomi, senior vice president of worldwide sales for BigBand Networks. "FastFlow is designed to allow cable operators like Suddenlink to make service deployment seamless, and maintain subscriber satisfaction as new services are installed."

For more information, check out the press release BigBand Networks Announces Five-Year Contract with Suddenlink Communications.