The Beacon
July 2019
Two years ago at ConneXions, I shared our commitment to helping you, our customers, succeed as you transform your networks and make the promise of the smart home and business a reality. A core element of this commitment was the creation of our Perspectives section of the Calix website. This is a space to read and hear the from distinguished service providers, systems suppliers, analysts, and educators as they share the ideas and inspiration that will transform your business. Transformation inspires us and these unique and diverse perspectives have inspired many of you as well.
Today I am happy to share that we have now expanded this space to include Marketing Perspectives, addressing the latest marketing trends, challenges and best practices. The valuable insights we have gathered from you through hundreds of marketing consultations and the development of dozens of market kits provides the foundation for this new space. This is where you can hear from industry analysts, educators, advocates, and your peers about ways to optimize your market strategies.
Marketers love to learn what’s working for others and pitfalls they can avoid as they strive to retain existing subscribers, efficiently attract and acquire new ones, and launch or evolve new services. The new Marketing Perspectives page will serve as a regular destination to check for new ideas, get inspired by your peers, become more data-driven, and hear about favorite resources just for marketers. I invite you to help us shape the direction of this new page as we regularly post new assets and best practices.
What’s next?
Looking for yet another reason to register for Connexions? Dana Carvey, the Emmy-award winning actor and comedian known for iconic Saturday Night Live characters will perform exclusively for Calix attendees on Monday evening, October 28.
An Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for his work on Saturday Night Live, Dana Carvey has received a total of six nominations and was also honored with The American Comedy Award as Television’s Funniest Supporting Male in both 1990 and 1991.
Perhaps best known as Garth in the classic sketch and feature film Wayne’s World, he built his career in comedy through iconic characters like Church Lady, Grumpy Old Man, and Hans. He also gained wide acclaim for his impersonations of American political figures, most notably George H.W. Bush. In addition to Wayne’s World, he has worked on a number of films, including his debut This is Spinal Tap and, most recently, provided the voice for “Pops” in the 3D animated hit, The Secret Life of Pets.
ConneXions is the gathering of the best and brightest minds in communications technology to highlight innovation and leadership. It’s also an occasion to celebrate. Dana Carvey, a true innovator in his own field, is the perfect fit to provide a night of comedy and relaxation exclusively for our attendees. Don’t miss out!
AVP, Product Marketing Subscriber Experience,
Calix
Fun fact – the state with most fiber coverage in the U.S. is Rhode Island at 84.8 percent.
However, nationwide coverage is only 25 percent. So, it’s not surprising that most service providers I have talked to – from top tier to rural – are still on an active path to expanding their fiber footprint.
So whether you are the lucky few that are close to 100 percent fiber penetration, or like the rest, right in the middle of investing in the speed and future-proofing benefits of fiber, here are a couple of ways Calix Cloud can help you to be smart about it, both before and after you make the investment.
Align your roll out strategy with subscriber experience
When the cost and complexity of a fiber build out has you rolling out in phases, how do you decide when and where to prioritize? The ideal approach is to base your strategy on subscriber usage and demand. Knowing which areas have subscribers with most need for speed, or at highest churn risk, can help you make better-informed business decisions.
Pioneer, serving over fifty counties across western Oklahoma and southern Kansas, is doing exactly that. By leveraging the insights on Calix Marketing Cloud, the marketing team is collaborating with outside plant and engineering teams to make decisions on future fiber build out. By putting data at the heart of their strategy, they are not only keeping their competition out, but also improving subscriber satisfaction.
Check out the replay of a recent webinar to hear how else Pioneer is leveraging Calix Cloud to deliver exceptional subscriber experience.
Maximize the revenue generated from your fiber customers
Once you have completed your fiber in the ground you can use AXOS and the E-Series portfolio to simplify your deployment of services to the expanded subscriber base. But, how do you ensure both the subscribers and your business quickly start benefiting from the speed the new infrastructure has to offer?
A common, yet old school, approach is to announce across the board that high-speed Internet is available in the region. A smarter approach would be to identify subscribers like heavy streamers, gamers, and those hitting service limits, to run targeted campaigns with tailored messages.
Later this month, join us on a live webinar for a closer look at how Northwest Communications Cooperative is maximizing the return on its fiber Investment via targeted social media campaigns.
In the last few months, Calix has received a number of large GigaSpire® orders. Service providers of all shapes and sizes are transforming their Managed Wi-Fi and Smart Home service offerings with the EXOS-powered Calix GigaSpires.
For example, Oklahoma's Pioneer Telephone Cooperative is offering the Calix GigaSpire to all of its Internet subscribers that are served by its new fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network. With its dramatically improved Wi-Fi coverage and throughput, Pioneer knows that the GigaSpire smart home systems will elevate their subscribers’ experience.
Are you ready to join the pioneers and place the GigaSpire at the center of your subscriber experience strategy?
Not just a router
Traditionally, consumers buy a Wi-Fi router with one task in mind; to connect their wireless devices to the Internet. And, it can perform that role for many years but, in essence, it is a single-function product.
The GigaSpire, on the other hand, is powered by EXOS, a modular and scalable platform based on Linux. EXOS leverages stateful OpenWRT to provide a framework for full customization and integration of ‘containers,’ that can be used to develop and test software features independently.
And while the GigaSpire’s hardware specifications alone are impressive, it is the EXOS platform that sets it apart from other Wi-Fi gateways on the market. Essentially, EXOS transforms the GigaSpire from a traditional Wi-Fi gateway to a smart home system.
Are you ready for the FCC CAF Speed and Latency Test Requirement?
Service providers deploying the EXOS-powered GigaSpire, with Calix Support Cloud, can leverage Speedtest® by Ookla®, a simple and cost-effective solution for that meets CAF performance testing requirements. (Support for CAF testing will be supported on the GigaCenter in the Fall of 2019.)
Built on the GigaSpire, and powered by EXOS, the test client is supported by the latest high-performance gateway chipset, capable of speed testing up to 1 Gbps. Service providers can set tests to run on a minimal number of units initially to generate enough results to ensure initial compliance before expanding their testing parameters.
Be future-proof
It is impossible to predict the future and what devices and applications will be available and what will capture consumers’ attention. However, service providers that deploy the EXOS-powered GigaSpire can sleep better at night knowing that the smart home system that they have deployed into their subscribers’ homes is not a static piece of hardware. It is a dynamic system that, thanks to the power of software, can be improved and enhanced, adding new functionality that can generate additional revenue for years to come.
Senior Director, Solutions Marketing, Calix
Today, new applications like virtual and augmented reality are being widely adopted and online video usage continues to climb. These trends can lead you to believe that every subscriber in your network must be using nearly a gigabit of bandwidth at their house. However, the reality is that they aren’t even close. Calix Marketing Cloud data, which I presented in my recent webinar Is your GPON Running out of Steam? When do you move to 10G PON, shows that the majority of households use approximately 10 Mbps during the peak hours of 6 to 9 pm. But there are subscribers that are using 500 Mbps or more on a regular basis. In addition, industry analysts are forecasting that deployments of GPON have peaked and the transition to 10G PON has begun.
Given these statistics, it’s time to think about how all this potential bandwidth usage will impact the rest of your access network. Just think, if all of your subscribers started using just 10 Mbps more bandwidth during peak hours, what would be the impact on your access network north of the OLT? How do you ensure your network can handle the ever-increasing amount of traffic needed by subscribers?
The answer is aggregation
This is where aggregation comes into the picture. Aggregation is used at the point in the access network where the traffic of many OLTs comes together. This can clearly be a choke point in the access network and is therefore the first place impacted by the rising demand for bandwidth.
The aggregation point in the traditional layer 2 access network is also an easy location in the network to upgrade. Subscriber services are not provisioned at this point. They are just passed through to the upstream router. Therefore, very few operational procedures are impacted by upgrading your aggregation in the access network. So, if you’ve been looking to take advantage of the many benefits of the AXOS architecture and try out the AXOS Diagnostics Toolbox, this is a great way to get started while also increasing the bandwidth capacity of your access network.
If you’d like to learn more about AXOS and the AXOS E7-2 10GE-12 Aggregation line card, join our upcoming webinar Creating Value and Savings Through the Power of AXOS Aggregation.
A well-trained team with the right mix of technical know-how and hands-on skills can give you a competitive edge. In a study done by J.D. Power on US Telecom In-home Services, training and technician proficiency directly impact subscriber perception as well as your business success. Your field technicians and customer facing team members represent your brand and can be your best advocate with subscribers.
When your team is technically proficient on your products and services, subscribers notice. Satisfaction scores are higher when incidents are fixed on the first visit and so technician knowledge is key to moving the needle on subscriber satisfaction.
In a recent webinar, we introduced these concepts, as well as tools to help increase your team's proficiency including:
Amongst our surveyed attendees, 63 percent felt Calix Certification would help their employees solve problems faster. Getting employees certified can benefit your business in several ways, including:
Calix Education Services has made getting your team certified easier. For those attending Calix ConneXions, qualified learners who have completed the AXOS E7-2 learning path courses can take the associated certification exam at no charge. If learners want more time to complete the courses, there is an option for that as well. If you purchase an Education Subscription before the end of 2019, the learner will get a complementary coupon to take the AXOS E7-2 certification exam.
If you want to find out more, you can set up a consultation with an Calix Education Services Expert or view past webinars on the Calix Webinar Hub.
Sign up for an upcoming Circles of Success! Circles of Success are small, interactive peer conversations among Calix customers, facilitated by a Calix Customer Success expert, talking about solution adoption, best practices, and user tips.
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Each month, we highlight the top 5 recent Calix Blog posts to make sure you don't miss out on the latest news and insights from Calix experts and industry guests.
And don't forget to follow us and check out other insightful articles.
During a recent webinar, Accelerate Your Transformation with New Certification and Training Options, we asked attendees which organizations most needed training to be ready for next generation initiatives like AXOS. 48 percent of respondents indicated that their network operations and central office technicians would benefit the most. With this in mind, Education Services is adding new courses to the AXOS Learning Path to help you address this skills gap issue.
The AXOS Maintenance, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting course is designed to provide your team the essential skills to maintain, configure, and troubleshoot AXOS systems. It includes:
Another course being added is Implementing AXOS 10G Business Ethernet Services. This instructor-led course is designed for those who maintain and configure AXOS systems. You’ll learn how to provide 10 Gbps Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) certified business services using Calix AXOS systems, including E-LINE and E-LAN, and help you verify the services using Ethernet OAM.
The AXOS 10G Business Ethernet Services course will be available for registration starting September 15, providing enough time to finish by ConneXions in order to take advantage of a new promotion available at the event. To help you get your AXOS E7-2 certification, we’re offering the AXOS E7-2 certification exam at ConneXions to qualified learners, those who have taken the pre-requisite AXOS learning path courses, at no charge. That’s a $295 value.
A Calix Education Services Expert can help you with your questions on the AXOS Learning Path updates and the AXOS Certification exam.
Based in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, Pioneer Telephone Cooperative (Pioneer) has been serving subscribers in the western part of the state for 66 years. With a network that spans 11,000 square miles and a variety of environments, Pioneer is working towards delivering the next generation of broadband services to its subscribers.
As part of these new services, Pioneer has committed to building out a 100 percent FTTH network in the communities of Blanchard and Newcastle. These communities will be well prepared for the smart home of tomorrow as Calix Support Cloud and the EXOS-powered combination of the GigaSpire® Blast and GigaMesh satellites will be offered to every local Pioneer subscriber.
In addition, Pioneer is making sure its existing fiber subscribers are getting the most out of their connection through the analytics provided in Calix Marketing Cloud. By segmenting their subscriber base to identify subscribers who could benefit from upgrading their broadband package, Pioneer found marketing campaign success. This educational campaign resulted in a 59-fold ROI for Pioneer, while delivering an enhanced subscriber experience to those who took advantage of the offer.
Learn more about how Pioneer is executing its mission to “explore, develop and pioneer the latest technology” for their subscribers this Calix Success Story video.
Role: Customer Success Associate, Renewals
Location: Petaluma, California
Years of Service: 4.5 years
Calix Expertise: Renewals
School: San Francisco State University
Favorite Movie: Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari
Favorite Vacation Spot: Maui, Hawaii
Fun Fact: My nickname is Gravey
Favorite Hobby: Playing Baseball (I play every Sunday)
