Calix Innovations Awards Honor 7 Trailblazing Customers Who Are Winning the Hearts and Minds of Subscribers While Growing Their Communities

At ConneXions 2023, Calix awards customers for outstanding achievements across several categories that demonstrate how any broadband provider can leverage a partnership with Calix and its broadband platform to expand their business and grow their community

Today, at its annual customer success and innovation conference, broadband platform company Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) presented the 12^th annual 2023 Customer Innovations Awards. Calix routinely recognizes customers who are transforming their core business functions—including customer service and support, operational excellence, network engineering, and marketing—with awards for these categories. This year’s awards introduced a new category, Giant of Community, spotlighting a customer who continually invests and delivers extraordinary broadband experiences to their community. These awards honor broadband service providers (BSPs) who are redefining subscriber experiences by moving beyond speeds and focusing on subscriber satisfaction, growing with their communities, and becoming pioneering leaders. Honorees are futureproofing businesses with scalable design and technology and leveraging Calix partners to change the lives of subscribers through exceptional experiences. They’ve become giants of their communities.

The winners of this year's Customer Innovations Awards have demonstrated unmatched innovation by improving lives, thinking beyond speed, and leveraging the power of the Calix end-to-end cloud and software broadband platform—along with Calix managed services—to achieve astounding business outcomes. These include subscriber satisfaction ratings of 90 percent and above at Highline Services and Cumberland Connect, reducing energy consumption by 73 percent with renewable energy practices at ALLO Communications, and slashing truck rolls by 41 percent at Silver Star Communications. They are innovators growing incredible value for themselves and their communities, embodying the theme of Calix ConneXions 2023: “Giant Steps Higher.”

The winners of the 2023 Customer Innovations Awards are:

• Giant of Marketing: Highline Services LLC
  
  Going beyond speed to offer products and managed services that match their subscribers’ lives, Highline Services connects gamers, work-from-homers, and anyone in between. Tailoring plans to meet subscribers’ needs and keeping their families safe has resulted in a 95 percent subscriber satisfaction rating and contributed to strong subscriber growth. Highline Services has been a Calix customer for 16 years, serving subscribers in Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas.

• Giant of Customer Service and Support: Silver Star Communications
  
  Not satisfied with building Wyoming’s first 10G network, Silver Star Communications has invested in unmatched customer service and support processes to improve the lives of subscribers, resulting in an 83 percent increase in first call resolution and a 41 percent reduction in truck rolls. Silver Star Communications has been a Calix customer for 16 years, serving subscribers in eastern Idaho and western Wyoming.

• Giant of Operations: Cumberland Connect
  
  By building a subscriber-focused operations infrastructure to identify and mitigate outages, Cumberland Connect has allowed support and field teams to respond efficiently and effectively to customer needs—resulting in a 98 percent customer satisfaction rating and an 8 percent reduction in support calls. Cumberland Connect has been a Calix customer for 4 years, serving subscribers throughout Tennessee.

• Giant of Network Engineering: Ellijay Telephone Company
  
  Engineers at Ellijay Telephone Company (ETC) reduced costs by $900,000, creating a more operationally efficient and modern network for subscribers. Leveraging the Simplified Network with innovative network topologies and a layer 3 distribution network enabled by the Calix Intelligent Access EDGE E9-2 system allowed them to effortlessly expand into new market areas. Further automation of IP address management eliminated operational complexity and allowed them to utilize their existing IPv4 address pools fully. ETC has been a Calix customer for 14 years, serving subscribers in northern Georgia.

• Giant of Sustainability: ALLO Communications
  
  After securing $650 million in sustainability financing and by leveraging the Calix platform during their broadband expansion, ALLO Communications reduced energy consumption by 73 percent by simplifying its access network. They also earned a S2SQ Sustainability Quality Score of “very good” by meeting the criteria for energy efficiency and renewable energy. ALLO Communications has been a Calix customer for 13 years, serving subscribers in Arizona, Colorado, and Nebraska.

• Giant of Community: Tombigbee Fiber Tombigbee Fiber relentlessly pursues connectivity for every Mississippian they serve. From expanding their fiber network to adding a host of managed services, Tombigbee Fiber heavily invests in their community. This dedication to the subscriber experience has given them a 91 Net Promoter Scores℠—far above the industry average. Tombigbee Fiber has been a Calix customer for 3 years, serving customers in Mississippi.

• Community Champion: Jim Vaden, Network Engineer (Forked Deer Electric Cooperative, Inc.)
  
  Jim Vaden is only the second member to ever achieve the black belt level within the Calix Community, a hub for events, education, discussion, technical support, and more for broadband industry professionals. Vaden has been a valued and active community contributor, achieving nearly 1,000 posts and comments since joining three years ago. His enthusiasm and participation have set an example for community members and defined what it is to be a champion. Forked Deer Electric Cooperative has been a Calix customer for five years, serving customers in western Tennessee.

“Every year at ConneXions, we honor customers who are doing amazing things in their communities and setting the pace for the industry,” said Matt Collins, chief commercial operations officer at Calix. “By leveraging Calix innovations and services, these customers are driving growth, successfully transforming their business functions, and adding remarkable value to their communities. The results speak for themselves. Our customers’ successes illustrate what is possible with the power of the Calix platform. It is a privilege to award the giants in our industry who are continually innovating and making a difference in their communities.”

Discover how winners of the Calix Customer Innovations Awards are transforming their businesses and growing unprecedented value for their communities.

About Calix

Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX)—Broadband service providers of all sizes leverage the Calix platform and teams to simplify their business and excite their subscribers to grow the value of their business and for their communities for generations. The democratizing power of the platform and portfolio of managed services enables them to operate efficiently, acquire subscribers, and deliver exceptional experiences. Calix is dedicated to driving continuous improvement in partnership with our growing ecosystem to support the transformation of our customers and their communities.

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.

Calix and the Calix logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Calix and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Calix’s trademarks can be found at https://www.calix.com/pages/trademarks.html. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

Net Promoter®, NPS®, NPS Prism®, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld. Net Promoter Score℠ and Net Promoter System℠ are service marks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.

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