Consolidated Cooperative Picks ADTRAN, NISC to Close Ohio’s Digital Divide

ADTRAN, Inc., the provider of next-generation multigigabit fiber and fiber extension broadband access solutions, has announced Consolidated Cooperative is leveraging ADTRAN’s Total Access 5000 (TA5000) 10G fiber access platform aligned with the National Information Solutions Cooperative's (NISC)Service Solution to seamlessly and quickly expand its fiber network and close the digital divide in Ohio.

The integrated solutions enable Consolidated to expedite service delivery and higher speed tiers in the future by aligning operational, customer service, billing and finance processes to save time and money.

Consolidated began deploying fiber in 2010 to connect electric facilities and data centers. In 2017, it began deploying fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks, but in 2020 the coop hit industry-wide supply chain shortages with its legacy vendor.

It looked for a new vendor that could build Consolidated’s best fiber access network while meeting aggressive deployment timeline goals. The electric coop currently delivers broadband to its member homes and plans to double the homes passed by the end of 2021.

ADTRAN, with its U.S.-based manufacturing facility, promptly delivered solutions to Consolidated so it could continue deployment as planned. While the cooperative is leveraging the TA5000 for Gigabit-ready FTTH, the fiber access platform can easily pivot to multigigabit services via XGS-PON through innovative Combo PON technology as bandwidth demand grows throughout the region.

“We can’t deploy fiber fast enough, and that’s why reliable suppliers are so critical. We’re grateful for the capabilities ADTRAN’s solution provides, and integration with NISC really sweetened the deal. We are a small team and wear a lot of hats. The smooth integration between ADTRAN and NISC keeps us from spending weeks integrating and provisioning between the two types of systems, plus eliminates the additional staff we would need to hire to manage it full-time,” said Phil Caskey, CEO, Consolidated Cooperative. “The efficiencies that ADTRAN and NISC provide us enable us to extend new benefits to our members, too. We want to keep our communities vibrant and growing, and access to high-quality broadband will bring the best opportunities and quality-of-life to our members.”

“The integration of the ADTRAN TA5000 fiber access platform and NISC Service Solution software enable service providers and cooperatives, like Consolidated, to more easily deploy and provision the network, visualize customer data and achieve faster resolutions in operations, customer service, billing and finance,” said Ryan Larson, Senior Product Strategy and Marketing Manager for NISC. “Additionally, Consolidated is able to leverage the integrated ADTRAN and NISC enterprise solutions to remotely control its electrical system and data acquisition, enabling it to better manage peak loads and costs.”

“Electric cooperatives across the U.S. are accelerating gigabit broadband deployments and ADTRAN’s portfolio of broadband equipment is readily available and supported by NISC’s suite of software solutions,” said Craig Stein, VP of Sales at ADTRAN. “We continue to be a strong supporter of utility broadband initiatives. Our NISC integration allows electric cooperatives to confidently deploy broadband throughout their service areas while minimizing operation expense and mitigating supply chain risks to their deployment plans.”

The ADTRAN TA5000 platform is the highest density 10G PON solution in the U.S. market.