DZS Achieves U.S. BEAD Program Manufacturing Readiness Certification

DZS, a global enabler of Networking, Connectivity and Cloud Edge software solutions enabling broadband everywhere, has announced that the company’s U.S. manufactured electronic components have been certified as compliant with the domestic manufacturing requirement enumerated in the “Build America Buy America” (BABA) waiver for the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

Announced by the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) via blog on October 18, 2022, this list is the first version of the specific equipment and suppliers self-certifying their compliance with the NTIA’s final limited waiver of BABA requirements of the BEAD Program, which includes manufactured products such as Optical Line Terminals (OLTs), OLT line cards, Optics pluggables and standalone Optical Network Terminals (ONTs).

DZS today manufactures a wide range of OLTs and OLT line cards which are now BABA certified, as well as a full portfolio of gateway ONTs with integrated WiFi and Layer 2 routing which makes them compliant with the BEAD wavier requirements.

“DZS, a Texas-based broadband Networking, Connectivity, and Cloud Edge software solutions company and our world-class manufacturing partner Fabrinet, are proud to be one of four electronic components manufacturers certified to meet all NTIA BABA manufacturing requirements for BEAD,” said Charlie Vogt, President and CEO, DZS. “Unique among our peers, we have a multi-decade commitment to manufacturing in the United States and specialize in environmentally hardened equipment ideal for rural deployment, including not only fiber access solutions but fiber extension and fixed wireless access as well. Above and beyond BEAD BABA requirements, we even manufacture our leading-edge Saber transport solutions in the U.S., which are critical for the Middle Mile portion of BEAD projects as well. For operators planning to pursue BEAD government stimulus funds, DZS is fully compliant with NTIA’s guidelines today and we are ready to leverage our comprehensive portfolio of market-leading solutions to help these broadband pioneers achieve the shared mission of bringing high-speed internet to all Americans.”

DZS’ market-leading Networking Edge solutions (OLTs and middle-mile transport), Connectivity Edge solutions (ONTs, gateways, fiber extension products, fixed wireless access products) and Cloud Edge software solutions (automation, orchestration and SDN management) are ideally suited for BEAD deployments, offering service providers end-to-end peace-of-mind and best-in-class performance. In addition, DZS offers unique solutions like its award-winning FiberWay and DZS Xtreme to make it easy for rural operators to quickly deploy and manage services remotely and in remote environments.