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Time Warner Cable Deploys Harmonic's Commercial Services Solution to Access Business and Education Markets

Posted on: Wednesday, 2 June 2004, 06:00 CDT

Harmonic Inc. (Nasdaq:HLIT) today announced that Time Warner Cable, a unit of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX), has deployed Harmonic's new Commercial Services Solution to enable very high-speed Internet access and Virtual Private Network (VPN) services. Harmonic's solution -- which is based on Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) technology -- utilizes Time Warner's existing residential broadband network infrastructure to reduce deployment costs and accelerate time to market. This approach permits Time Warner to deliver scalable and secure bandwidth to meet the requirements of Houston, Texas area businesses and educational institutions.

Universal, high-speed broadband connectivity is now considered important for maintaining a world-class workforce and a competitive economy. As more business, governmental and educational interactions are conducted electronically, it will drive the need for more bandwidth. Delivering this bandwidth will create new opportunities for cable companies with networks that, in many instances, already pass these organizations.

"Commercial services are expected to represent a significant business for Time Warner and other cable operators," said James Canright, Director of Engineering for Time Warner Cable's Houston Division. "We evaluated a wide range of wired and wireless technologies that were potentially able to provision secure and reliable high-speed access. The superior economics and flexibility associated with CWDM made it the most practical option. And, once we made that determination, Harmonic was the clear choice."

An early user of Time Warner's new service is a Houston area school district. Previously, the district relied on T1 services for Internet access and internal wide area networking. Time Warner's Commercial Service provides vastly more capacity with the ability to scale to 100 Megabits per second (Mbps). This will enable each school to better meet the education and computing requirements of their students in addition to providing a richer set of teaching resources and administrative tools.

"Scalable, commercial grade network access for business, government and education are a natural extension of cable's consumer video, voice and data triple play," said Patrick Harshman, President of Harmonic's Broadband Access Networks Division. "Time Warner's deployment in Texas highlights how operators can cost-effectively tap the full potential of their network to diversify their offerings and generate more revenue with a rapid return on investment. Harmonic's Commercial Services Solution makes it very straightforward to turn businesses passed into high value customers."

Harmonic's Commercial Services Solution enables cable operators to offer very high-speed data communications services over the same fiber that distributes residential broadcast and on-demand television. The solution uses CWDM technology to transport up to 10 wavelengths -- each offering 100 Mbps, which is approximately 70 times the capacity of a T1 service -- without affecting the scope and quality of residential services.

Each CWDM wavelength is targeted to a specific customer -- a business, office park, multi-tenant building or campus -- to bring an added degree of transport security to the service. Harmonic maximizes service availability while reducing operating costs by making the network between the operator and customer sites completely passive.

About Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable owns and manages cable systems serving 10.9 million subscribers in 27 states, which include some of the most technologically advanced, best-clustered cable systems in the country with more than 75% of the Company's customers in systems of 300,000 subscribers or more. Utilizing a fully upgraded advanced cable network and a steadfast commitment to providing consumers with choice, value and world-class customer service, Time Warner Cable is an industry leader in delivering advanced products and services such as video on demand, high definition television, high-speed data, wireless home networking and digital video recorders. Time Warner Cable is a company of Time Warner Inc.

About Harmonic Inc.

Harmonic Inc. is a leading provider of digital video, broadband optical networking and IP delivery systems to cable, satellite, telecom and broadcast network operators. Harmonic's open standards-based solutions for the headend through the last mile enable customers to develop new revenue sources and a competitive advantage by offering powerful interactive video, voice and data services such as video-on-demand, high definition digital television, telephony and Internet access.

Harmonic (Nasdaq:HLIT) is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with R&D, sales and system integration centers worldwide. The Company's customers, including many of the world's largest communications providers, deliver services in virtually every country. Visit www.harmonicinc.com for more information.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27(A) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21(E) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements related to: more electronic business, governmental and educational interactions driving the need for more bandwidth, delivery of this bandwidth creating new opportunities for cable companies, the expectation that commercial services represent a significant business for Time Warner and other cable operators, and enabling schools to better meet the requirements of their students.

Our expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not materialize, and actual results could differ materially from those projected. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release area also subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in Harmonic's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, in particular its recent Reports filed on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. Harmonic does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements.

EDITOR'S NOTE -- Product and company names used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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