The Beacon
November 2020
Looking for more content? Check out the Revenue EDGE Beacon here.
At ConneXions 2020, I outlined the key tenets of a future-proof network. The network of the future is not built on satellite technology, copper, or COAX. The network of the future is built on fiber, and it has all the characteristics of our AXOS platform:
With Calix platforms—AXOS and EXOS—you can meet the needs of device-enabled subscribers and seamlessly layer the cloud-based services they want on top of your network. Both AXOS and EXOS are built in ways that allow you to easily and quickly deploy innovative new solutions, with zero integration time. This means your investment in Calix platforms makes your network future-proof. You can change things on the fly, stay focused on subscriber needs, and cull the insights you need from subscriber data. It allows you to adapt so you can go to market quickly with the latest innovations.
Deliver innovation at the speed subscribers want.
We understand adaptation. Years ago, Calix built monolithic, vertical systems that took two to three years to develop and change. If we needed to get a new feature or service to you, it took us 24 to 36 months for us to develop, integrate, test, and deliver it.
That era is over. We innovate continually, and release new features, functions, and products on a 91-day cadence. This release cadence enables you to evolve your network to keep pace with the demands of today’s device-enabled subscriber.
ConneXions recaps and 20.4 cadence release highlights.
In this issue of The Beacon, we offer key recaps from ConneXions and highlights of our 20.4 cadence release.
Success requires adaptation. You can choose to be an old-world pipe provider. Or you can invest in a future-proof network that enables you to build an entirely new business on top of it. I hope you choose wisely.
Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, Calix
Last year at ConneXions 2019, we asked you to consider the life of a subscriber who occasionally worked from home and often streamed Netflix while exercising on her Peloton. At the time, we saw these in-home experiences for the device-enabled subscriber as “nice to have,” but not yet the norm.
What a difference a year makes.
The power of data in the digital era.
The entire market has jumped ahead. High-speed service (and symmetrical bandwidth) is now an essential utility—just like heat or water. In a digital era, the company with the best data wins. Amazon and Google are built on data, and they’re worth trillions. Most important, they use that data to understand customers. And they’re out to own the in-home experience—and your subscriber’s data.
As Carl mentioned in “The Network of the Future,” to compete against these industry giants, you need to innovate at the speed consumers want. Our goal with the Revenue EDGE is to allow you to harness the power of a flexible, dynamic platform—and keep ownership of subscriber data. You can also innovate at speed. Once you’ve embraced the Revenue EDGE and integrated EXOS into your back-office and operations systems, adding new Wi-Fi systems and value-added applications is a breeze because they all share the same platform.
Elevate your brand and own the subscriber experience.
At ConneXions 2020, I shared that service providers like Arvig, WCTEL, and Nemont are leveraging Calix to realize a 30 percent or more increase in ARPU, take rates, and revenue. I also made three announcements about how we’re helping you elevate your brand, deliver the ultimate subscriber experience, and win against competitors.
We’ll continue listening to your input and bringing new solutions like these to market. We look forward to 2021, a year in which you can delight subscribers, strengthen your brand, and win—even against the biggest competitors in the market.
Your Recommended Action Plan
This year, ConneXions was a whole new experience for us. Not only did we move the whole event online, but we also aligned each day with different personas (marketing, network engineering, network operations, customer experience, and general management) so we could deliver your teams with targeted insights.
As always, we designed our entire agenda—including general sessions, fireside chats, community events, our sponsor expo, entertainment, and much more—with your needs in mind. To replicate the valuable socializing element of gathering in person, we used our existing online community, “My Calix,” to build our virtual experience. Embarking on this new online adventure yielded three key benefits.
We were able to track high levels of attendance and engagement.
With a virtual event, we could really dig into the data to measure engagement.
Amazing guest speakers joined our virtual stage.
Going virtual also opened fresh opportunities to welcome high-profile leaders and industry experts as speakers. That included Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai, who delivered a keynote address and announced exciting news about proposed spectrum rules in a fireside chat with Calix CEO Carl Russo.
Great video content from ConneXions is already available to replay.
Thanks to a virtual format, we already have a huge library of recordings that any ConneXions registrant can watch, on demand. If you registered but missed a session, visit the library archive to replay videos anytime. (Any session you added to “My Agenda” will automatically offer video replays. If you didn’t register for ConneXions, just log on and visit the On Demand Library—search by Track, Type, Solution, or Day to find videos of any session).
An amazing group of partners and sponsors joined us. Read Stephen Eyre’s article in this issue to find out how you might collaborate with these valuable extended members of our team.
If you attended, thank you. We’ll continue our constant efforts to help you achieve success. Please visit “My Calix” to engage with your peers and take advantage of our ongoing learning events.
Your Recommended Action Plan
The Revenue EDGE is designed to provide a powerful connection with your subscribers and help you win against the consumer giants competing for your subscribers’ attention. And, as bandwidth usage continues to grow, you need new ways to support, segment, and engage subscribers. Here are three ways your team can use the latest enhancements from our Revenue EDGE 20.4 cadence release to improve the subscriber experience.
Provide better support for EDGE Suites.
This latest release continues the evolution of Calix Support Cloud—further tying its benefits to EDGE Suites. The updates help customer support representative (CSR) teams ensure the setup process is user-friendly. This dramatically increases the efficiency of how subscribers set up EDGE Suites, while other Support Cloud enhancements contribute to massive operational savings via dramatic reductions in issue escalations, follow-up calls, and truck rolls.
Give subscribers control over their connected homes.
The new “My Priorities” function in ExperienceIQ™ allows subscribers to prioritize the applications and devices that compete for bandwidth within the home network. For example, remote workers might want to ensure that their laptop (and the associated applications) get priority during business hours. In addition to the existing parental controls, ExperienceIQ allows your subscribers to maintain greater control over their connected experience.
Deliver better subscriber segmentation and accelerate your go-to-market strategy.
We’ve added a more powerful work from anywhere (WFA) segmentation capability to Calix Marketing Cloud. This enhancement allows your marketing team to better identify the WFA audience segment so you can target them with a service upgrade that will provide them with real value. The new Market Activation Video Editor (MAVE), as part of EDGE Enablement, expands the assets available to your marketing team—from videos and digital advertisements, to product support collateral and subscriber education guides.
Your Recommended Action Plan
Like so many communication service providers (CSPs), Chariton Valley faces the challenge of delighting a subscriber base that now requires unprecedented levels of broadband services at home. Luckily, with the 20.4 release, Calix launched the GP1100X 10G PON ONT. With this launch, delivering more than a Gig of high bandwidth symmetrical service has never been so easy and simple.
What is GP1100X 10G PON?
The GP1100X GigaPoint is a high-performance, indoor, XGS-PON ONT that enables CSPs to cost effectively deliver greater than 1G residential IPTV and data services. It also comes with one voice line that supports carrier-grade VoIP. The GP1100X GigaPoint is optimized for residential applications—providing a single 2.5GE LAN port that enables more than a gigabit of symmetrical services over XGS-PON and is fully supported by the Intelligent Access EDGE portfolio of systems. Communication service providers that have 10G-PON networks, powered by the AXOS Intelligent Access EDGE solution, are highly agile and can quickly implement network automation and simplified service provisioning within their operational processes.
Scaling growth and meeting the increased demand for high-bandwidth services.
Chariton Valley needed a solution that could scale as its FTTH network and subscriber base grows, while also providing the ability to deliver high-bandwidth services. The team soon realized the software-defined Calix AXOS platform would scale to meet its bandwidth needs while also lowering total cost of ownership.
Ultimately Chariton Valley chose the Calix Intelligent Access EDGE solution for deploying XGS-PON in new market expansion areas with the E7-2 Intelligent Modular System and the GP1100X ONT. Chariton Valley knew 10G PON and XGS-PON would offer more speeds and advanced high-bandwidth services—particularly symmetric service offerings. As bandwidth demands climb and markets become more competitive, such offerings will become powerful differentiators.
Delivering innovation and flexibility.
Because AXOS is software-based and decoupled from the physical layer, Chariton Valley can enable the kind of innovation and flexibility Carl Russo spoke about at ConneXions. Armed with the new GP1100X 10G PON GigaPoint ONT, Chariton Valley now has an end-to-end XGS-PON- based solution that will further extend its 10G PON leadership position.
Your Recommended Action Plan
How can you keep subscribers happy and deliver exceptional service availability and quality? How can you create an agile, responsive network operations team that can deliver the network reliability subscribers want and need? Those are the questions we heard from several network operations teams. To help them meet these challenges, Calix Support launched two new support offerings as part of our 20.4 cadence release.
New Premier Support gives you access to engineering expertise.
The new Premier Support level gives Calix customers access to a Calix Support Engineering Specialist familiar with the service provider’s technology and operating environment. These experts provide network operations teams with:
New Service Delivery Manager provides fast incident management and resolution.
Additionally, our new Service Delivery Manager role designates an expert to act as an advocate and case manager to help accelerate problem resolution. The Service Delivery Manager also regularly shares best practices with the operations team, offers guidance on issues impacting their network, and reports on Calix Support performance to help them proactively address subscriber problems.
Premier Support and the Service Delivery Manager have proven to be perfect for AcenTek. The company is on the leading edge of adding advanced routing capabilities of the AXOS E9-2 Intelligent Edge System to move IP further into its access network. Ethan Webinger, chief technology officer for AcenTek said, “Calix Premier Support is indispensable for our operations, it has given us true mastery of our network. The Calix Support team has a hands-on approach that enables us to be proactive in operating our network and providing better quality and better service compared to our competition.”
Your Recommended Action Plan
Supporting Service Provider Marketers and Business Leaders
The Revenue EDGE Beacon reveals today's best practices and insights for marketers. Subscribe today and learn how to leverage data to build great campaigns so you can retain, grow, and attract new subscribers.
If you support your frontline team properly, you can see truly amazing benefits. For example, customers that use Calix Support Cloud (CSC) get access to the best information, at the right time, to address subscriber needs effectively. Using CSC helps them improve first-call resolution, get higher customer satisfaction scores, and reduce escalations and unnecessary truck rolls.
With our 20.4 CSC release, Calix continues to deliver more ways for frontline teams to improve customer support and delight subscribers.
Provision EDGE Suites in real time through Calix Support Cloud.
When Calix first introduced EDGE Suites, your support teams used CSC to troubleshoot when your subscribers called with questions. Support reps have visibility into malicious threats and vulnerabilities from which ProtectIQ protects the home network, and advanced parental controls via ExperienceIQ™. As subscribers have spent more time working, learning and enjoying entertainment at home, we saw an increased need for security and control over network experience in their household. To address these subscriber needs, we added the ability to provision EDGE Suites in real-time through CSC. This capability allows your support reps to give subscribers immediate and seamless access to the EDGE Suites services and allows them to take an active role in incremental revenue generation.
Use Calix Support Cloud to remotely configure EDGE Suites.
In the 20.4 release, we also added the ability to remotely configure EDGE Suites. Frontline teams can adjust the settings directly from CSC—helping subscribers calibrate ProtectIQ™ and ExperienceIQ to their specific needs, regardless of how tech savvy they are. Tuning the applications helps subscribers maximize the benefits of these services and makes it easier for subscribers to optimize their network experience.
A new dashboard to proactively identify subscriber issues and lower call volumes.
With enhancements to the CSC Dashboard, customer care leaders can proactively identify subscriber issues and lower call volumes. The new interactive Call Avoidance report identifies coverage and interference issues before they turn into trouble calls. Enhancements to the Systems Check-in report provides additional insights into offline systems—allowing CSPs to quickly identify if the issue tracks to an individual subscriber or a large-scale outage.
Your Recommended Action Plan
How can you chart a path for growth if you serve far-flung subscribers in rural communities? Try creating an amazing customer experience by offering the best service around.
The unique challenges of connecting rural communities.
At ConneXions 2020, Tim Bowlby, supervisor of network engineering at Valley TeleCom Group (VTC), shared his team’s customer experience success story. Valley TeleCom Group currently serves subscribers in more than 20 rural desert communities, across 10,500 square miles. The regional communication service provider (CSP) has been known to lay 10-12 miles of fiber to connect one or two households.
As you might imagine, providing customer support to those rural subscribers can be a challenge. A Calix Support Cloud customer since 2018, VTC added Customer Success Services in July of 2019—and the benefits became apparent almost immediately.
The customer experience can be a key differentiator.
As VTC is rolls out the GigaSpire BLAST u6 system, it looks forward to offering the ultimate subscriber experience with powerful Wi-Fi 6, plus full network protection and management through EDGE Suites.
The future of the broadband subscriber experience in southeastern Arizona is as bright as the desert sun. For VTC, it all starts with an investment in the right tools and services to support a great customer experience.
Your Recommended Action Plan
As Matt reminded us, this year’s ConneXions was a whole new experience for us—as it was for our sponsors. They brought amazing stories to share and enriched the overall experience for attendees.
As always, we had an amazing line-up for our Sponsor Expo, which featured 24 members of the Calix partner community. In line with the continued growth of Calix, we had eight new companies join us this year as first-time sponsors.
This year’s Sponsor Expo was led by our Premier sponsors: Alianza, CCI Systems, Conexon, GLDS, LBN Ocular IP, and NISC.
Calix is excited to have an amazing array of world-class companies as our partners and I invite you to investigate the capabilities of each. The categories below are broad, and I encourage you to explore each company’s full offerings. You should be able to find a great partner to fit your unique needs.
BSS/OSS Solutions
Consulting, Construction, and Network Management
Fiber Optic Networks Solution
Network Design and Planning, Mapping and Data Visualization
Next Generation Switching Solutions
Unified Communications Solutions, and more
Our sponsors were key to the success of ConneXions. We thank them for their participation. Check out our Sponsor Expo on Calix.com/connexions to learn more.
Your Recommended Action Plan
This year was the first time we embarked on training in a virtual format at ConneXions. Just like all our ConneXions trainings, however, this year proved to be a great success. We delivered seven sessions during our training week at ConneXions, with more than 700 attendees. If you missed a session, you can access them now in the On Demand Library on Calix.com.
New AXOS Essentials quiz and badge.
As part of ConneXions, we also announced a new AXOS Essentials quiz and badge. Now, through December 31, 2020, the quiz is complimentary to access and take. (Each student will get two attempts to pass.)
The quiz will help you validate your understanding of the essential elements of Calix AXOS. If you complete the quiz successfully, you’ll receive a special badge. The quiz requires participants to demonstrate a basic knowledge of:
To take the quiz, log in to Calix Academy and look for the AXOS Essentials quiz.
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Release Notes for R20.4
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