Calix Announces Next Innovations to Its Broadband Platform So Customers Can Rapidly Scale to the Business Market

SAN JOSE, CA & LONDON—October 16, 2023—Today, at its annual customer success and innovation conference, Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) announced significant innovations to its broadband platform that will enable broadband service providers (BSPs) to quickly scale their business markets. Enhancements to the Calix platform will allow BSPs to equip a wider variety of businesses with the services they need to thrive. The evolution of Calix SmartBiz™ will give BSPs more ways to simplify secure managed Wi-Fi and network management for small business owners with multiple locations, along with new monetization opportunities. The company also announced a new business solution to streamline the delivery of premium managed business services to corporate offices, entertainment venues, and other mid-sized businesses.

The evolution of SmartBiz—launched earlier this year in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom—will enable BSPs to simplify network management for small businesses that are the backbone of rural and suburban communities, including retailers, restaurants, RV parks, and more. Over the past three decades, the United States’ 33 million small businesses created 63 percent of new jobs. Canada’s 1 million small businesses employ 64 percent of its workforce. In the United Kingdom, 5.5 million “small-to-medium enterprises” account for 61 percent of private sector employment.

Off-network management capabilities allow BSPs to service small businesses with locations in and outside their network footprint. Small business owners can intuitively manage multiple networks and oversee staff authentication through the customizable CommandWorx™ mobile app. Guest Wi-Fi analytics will give small business owners insights to improve customers’ experiences, and a paywall will open new revenue opportunities.

Calix also announced ManagedBiz™ to enable the delivery of top-tier managed business services to mid-sized businesses like corporate offices and entertainment venues. Businesses of this size often grapple with multiple locations, remote workforces, limited IT resources, and intricate cybersecurity requirements. ManagedBiz will harness the power of the Calix platform and a BSP’s trusted reputation to provide managed services and support for businesses. Broadband teams will also have access to the Calix Cloud® management portal to help business subscribers with deployment and monitoring.

The Calix innovation roadmap includes plans to launch new Wi-Fi systems for larger offices (Calix GigaPro™ p4) and expansive outdoor venues (Calix GigaPro™ p6dx). The expanding systems portfolio will also provide a managed firewall, Wi-Fi controller, and local networking to meet the indoor and outdoor needs of ManagedBiz subscribers.

“The Calix platform is helping us provide Oregon-based businesses with the support they need—enabling us to address their current problems so they can focus on operating and growing their business,” said Michael Wynschenk, chief executive officer at Hunter Communications. “We have a responsibility to provide a dependable broadband network to our customers, and, with Calix, we can fix business problems that we have not been able to in the past. New developments from Calix announced today onstage at ConneXions will help us be a better service provider so our customers can focus on what they do best. The introduction of ManagedBiz will also help us to expand the types and sizes of businesses our team can support using the same tools and systems we work with today. We look to Calix for innovation so we can provide the level of service our customers want and should expect from us.” 

As they grow new markets, Calix customers are supported every step of the way with Calix Services. Award-winning programs like Premier Customer Success and Smart Start for Managed Services help them rapidly plan and execute their go-to-market rollout, align organizations, and launch new service offerings. Calix Education Services provides enablement workshops and training courses designed to help network engineering, operations, field installation, and customer support teams quickly and successfully bring new services to market. 

“A community cannot remain healthy without sustained success for its local businesses,” said Michael Weening, president and chief executive officer at Calix. “In the past, serving business customers was complex, as BSPs had to cobble together enterprise technologies that were built by IT organizations—making it inefficient to scale down for smaller customers. Innovative customers and leaders like Michael Wynschenk have partnered with our teams to ensure that our innovation expands the Calix broadband platform so they can grow. With one platform, our customers and their teams leverage the same cloud services, workflows, and training to deliver world-class broadband to multiple markets and meet the unique needs of each. That is the only way to win in broadband today—one platform to service a long list of subscriber needs and different use cases—from small to medium businesses. We are excited by this massive market opportunity and will continue to partner with our customers to give them everything they need to scale their business market offerings and deliver even more value to the communities they serve.”

ConneXions attendees can check out SmartBiz at the Innovation Showcase at the Wynn in Las Vegas until October 17.

Learn how new business offerings from Calix will enable BSPs across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. to own their business markets.

About Calix
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon management’s current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this release, and we assume no obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking statement to reflect any event or circumstance after the date of this release, except as required by law. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from current expectations based on risks and uncertainties affecting Calix’s business. The reader is cautioned not to rely on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Additional information on potential factors that could affect Calix’s results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and available at www.sec.gov.

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