Sunday, March 2, 2008

Minnesota in Febuary is a Garden Valley


Garden Valley Telephone in Erskine, MN is preparing to deploy IPTV. While they've been in the video business for years (they claim to have one of the oldest working cable TV operations) they will very soon have one of the newest. IPTV is truly a cutting edge product and GV has the ability to deliver it.

Right now they are delivering Internet to their customers through ADSL2+ at approximately 30 mbps and through fiber (FTTP) at a whopping 100 mbps. With that speed, it is only natural to want to offer the "triple play" of Internet, telephone and video to their customers through that pipe.

Like many other carriers, particularly rural ones, protecting the base of customers is vital to their long term survival. It's one thing to survive, it's another to grow and flourish and that is exactly what Garden Valley is looking to do. Now with IPTV, it looks like they may do just that.

I was very fortunate this week to be able to spend some time with these folks and talk about getting ready for IPTV. I worked with the teams that will interface with customers so that they will be able to answer their questions. I also spent time with installers reviewing what they will need to know as well.

GV will be serving two DMAs: Fargo/Morehead and Minneapolis/St. Paul. They will be using Myrio (Siemans) for their middleware riding on Scientific Atlanta gateways.

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