Arcwave to Introduce Management System for Cable Operators Deploying Multiple Wireless Bridge Devices; ARCNet to Enable Convenient, Centralized Management of Multiple Wireless Plant Extension Hubs Providing Service to Commercial Customers.

CAMPBELL, Calif. -- Arcwave, Inc., a provider of wireless solutions for the cable industry, today announced the release of ARCNet, a comprehensive element management system (EMS) for small, medium or large deployments of Arcwave's ARCXtend Wireless Plant Extension (WPE) network hubs. ARCXtend provides a wireless bridge enabling cable operators to extend their reach to small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) that are currently out of the reach of their existing hybrid fiber/coaxial (HFC) plant infrastructure.

The ARCNet EMS and support services are available now via ARRIS TeleWire Supply(R), Arcwave's authorized re-seller to the North American cable industry and largest U.S. distributor. Pricing is based upon the number of devices under management by the EMS.

The ARCNet EMS provides comprehensive element management functionality for ARCXtend deployments, including hub, event, configuration and software upgrade management. Specific functions supported by ARCNet include hub discovery, user-definable groups, e-mail notification of hub events, and fine grained security management.

The ARCNet EMS server software can support from two to more than 500 hubs, depending on the scope of the cable operator's deployment of ARCXtend wireless bridges. It continuously polls all hubs under management and immediately notifies cable plant management of current hub status and operations. The EMS consists of an SNMP-based element manager that can be deployed on industry standard servers running Windows, Linux or Solaris operating systems located in cable headends or network operations centers. It comes standard with MySQL database software, and it can also be deployed with Oracle and other leading database solutions. The user friendly HTML client is compatible with Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Mozilla Web browsers and requires no pre-configuration of PC hardware.

ARCXtend is the first WPE solution that enables cable operators to leverage their extensive fiber networks and advanced IP service capability to target a large portion of the domestic SMB high-speed data market, estimated at more than eight million businesses, that has been previously unreachable due to cost, regulatory or deployment delay considerations. While approximately 90 percent of the $82 billion SMB market for voice and data services is within close proximity to existing cable networks, an estimated 50 percent of the SMB market is currently not serviceable by cable operators due to zoning restrictions, "right of way" challenges and the expense of laying new fiber or coaxial cable in commercial areas. Offering a convenient "plug and play" deployment, ARCXtend seamlessly integrates into a cable operator's network and operating infrastructure creating a wireless bridge for the transmission of the cable industry's DOCSIS standard signals between the wired network and one or more customer sites at speeds significantly faster than DSL.

"As cable operators continue to increase their deployments of Arcwave's ARCXtend wireless plant extension solution, the ARCNet EMS is ideal for conveniently managing and monitoring multiple hubs through a single platform, rather than managing each device manually," said Bob Puccini, president of ARRIS TeleWire. "As some MSO deployments could number in the hundreds or thousands of ARCXtend hubs, the efficiencies of ARCNet can have a significant impact on the ongoing operations of their WPE deployment."

"ARCNet provides a flexible platform for cable operators to rapidly scale their wireless plant extension deployments in order to reach an even greater number of SMBs with high-speed data services," said Chris Martin, vice president of marketing for Arcwave. "Arcwave is the first to offer a scalable EMS platform for WPE, further solidifying Arcwave's ongoing commitment to deliver revenue enhancing solutions that leverage existing cable operator physical plant and network operations."

About Arcwave

Arcwave is the leading developer and provider of wireless plant extension solutions for the cable industry. Arcwave's products enable domestic and international multiple system operators (MSOs) to leverage the latest wireless technologies to extend the reach of their existing services and to increase service offerings within their current plant and operating infrastructure. The company has patented technology and experience in the wireless industry combined with a unique understanding of the MSO business model. Arcwave's solutions are designed for "plug and play" deployment and leverage existing and future technologies, such as Wireless DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification), 802.11, 802.16d, and 802.16e. Arcwave's ARCXtend product is certified by nine of the top 13 cable system operators, with systems deployed in more than 100 regions of the country. The company is funded by Vulcan Capital, Venrock Associates, SBV Venture Partners, Comcast Interactive Capital and Mayfield.

ARCell and ARCXtend are trademarks of Arcwave, Inc., and DOCSIS is a registered trademark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.