Traffic can hum along on these circuits at a zippy 40 Mbps, many times faster than the measly 1.5 Mbps that most cable Internet providers deliver today. We figured the question to ask was how to digitize more of the cable infrastructure so you can have dedicated bandwidth, which is where our solution fits in. Though most of Advent's customer list is still in the talking stages, the company has secured UtiliCorp Communications Services as its first official taker. Based in Kansas City, Mo., UtiliCorp provides broadband services to both rural and urban communities throughout the Midwest, and is currently beta-testing Ultraband on its cable infrastructure. The availability of the jacked-up version of its service has not yet been determined, nor has the fee.
Advent remains a privately held company, albeit an exceptionally well-funded one.
Investors in that round included Motorola, Reliant Energy, Murphree Venture Partners, and Southern Union Co., which is also an Advent Networks partner. The Network Delivering Ultraband's high-speed magic requires cable operators to deploy a couple of key pieces of equipment in their networks. The gateway box is connected to the cable network on one side. On the other side of the box is an Ethernet port for the PC, an RJ-11 jack for a telephone, and a cable port for the television. Outside the customer premise in the cable network sits the Ultraband Switch Router, through which the Ultraband gateway establishes a connection when it's turned on.