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Pannaway Technologies (Part III): Service Convergence Network Added to RUS List of MaterialsBy TED GLANZER TMCnet Communications and Broadband Columnist One of the major challenges facing President Bush and his Broadband Initiative, which calls for universal broadband access by 2007, is the penetration of rural communities. Indeed, broadband service providers don't have much incentive to offer their services in areas where the profit margin is low, if it exists at all. The federal government has not turned a blind eye to the problem. Indeed, the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) assists rural utilities expand and keep their technology up to date, helping establish new and vital services. Part of RUS' mission includes administering the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program, which is designed to provide loans for funding, on a technology neutral basis, the costs of construction, improvement and acquisition of facilities and equipment to provide broadband services to eligible rural communities. The programs' goal, according to its Web site, is to ensure that rural consumers receive "the same quality and range of telecommunications services that are available in urban and suburban communities." According to a USDA March press release, the program had $2.1 billion in funds available to private companies seeking to invest in technology. With that in mind, Pannaway Technologies, Inc. today announced that its Service Convergence Network (SCN) was accepted for listing by the USDA's RUS. Inclusion on the RUS materials list enables borrowers in the RUS broadband access program to purchase Pannaway's SCN, which enables the delivery of Triple Play services over a single broadband network. "RUS provides a great service to rural carriers and their broadband subscribers and we are honored to be a part of such a groundbreaking initiative," said Mike Skubisz, CTO for Pannaway, in a prepared statement. "Our award-winning SCN system and all of its inherent next-generation capabilities can now be made available to rural IOCs regardless of their plan to fund the project." This announcement's significance was not lost on anyone. "With the RUS in hand, I think Pannaway will take off like a shot," said Kermit Ross, president of Millennium Marketing, in a prepared statement. This week, Michael Skubisz, Chief Technology Officer for Pannaway, will be speaking at TMC’s 2nd Annual VoIP Developer Conference (www.voipdeveloper.com) in San Francisco. More on Pannaway: Pannaway Technologies: Turning Copper and Fiber into Gold (Part I) Pannaway: Turning Copper and Fiber into Gold (Part II) ----- Ted Glanzer is assistant editor for TMCnet. For more articles by Ted Glanzer, please visit: http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100033&nm=Ted%20Gl anzer |