Pannaway (News - Alert) Technologies announced today that it has changed its name to Pannaway Networks. In addition it has strengthened its management team with the addition of Ed Buchner, formerly with Siemens (News - Alert) Communications, as the company’s Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Partner Development, as well as Kevin Brown, another seasoned telecom executive, to the newly created position of Vice President of Solutions and Product Marketing. Together these two will help Pannaway expand its portfolio of telecommunications service delivery platforms and grow its revenue.

Buchner began his 25-year telco career as an operations engineer with New York Telephone and PBX builder TeleResources (News - Alert). In 1983, he joined ROLM, within the sales department, and from there went on to hold sales and marketing management positions with ROLM’s subsequent owners, IBM (News - Alert) and then Siemens. While at Siemens, Buchner also held the position of Director of Business Development for Siemens’ Carrier Networks, with a particular focus on PON and VoIP solutions. His existing relationships within the industry and proven partner development skills will no doubt benefit Pannaway, as it expands its portfolio of Ethernet/IP and FTTH solutions.

Brown has more than 15 years of experience in the networking and telecom industry, holding positions in marketing, product marketing and product management. In his new role with Pannaway he will focus on the development of new Ethernet/IP-based, convergence solutions based on Pannaway’s SCN architecture and will expand the company’s line of products. Brown, who has been active in many industry associations and committees throughout his career, will also bring valuable insight which will be translated into new products being demanded by the telco community.

“The appointment of Ed and Kevin to their new respective roles signifies the next milestone in Pannaway’s continued growth, and our ongoing commitment to the development of next-generation solutions for our customers,” Mark Carpenter, president of Pannaway Networks, said in a press release. “The Solutions and Partner Development groups will work together to create new opportunities and to develop a true, end-to-end partner ecosystem that will continue to bring confidence and simplicity to current and future Ethernet/IP deployments.”

Pannaway made news on TMCnet in December when it announced that its solutions, including its embedded components, fabric materials and line access modules, have received RUS technical acceptance. The RUS is a division of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Among other things its role is to promote the introduction of fiber-based broadband services in rural areas -- where most of the larger service providers see little financial incentive to operate -- and to stimulate the advancement of communications systems in these areas through government loans and discounts on equipment. RUS acceptance means service providers seeking to roll out communications networks in rural areas can get government loans and discounts (i.e. reimbursement) on an approved list of network components which meet standards for efficiency, durability, etc. A common misconception is that these are low budget products: Rather they are among the industry’s top performing copper and fiber-based solutions -- including 2.5 GPON and 100/1000MBPS Active Ethernet technologies. Pannaway’s Service Convergence (News - Alert) Network (SCN) system for both copper and fiber broadband deployments had previously gained RUS acceptance in 2005.

Pannaway provides carrier-grade access network systems for North American IOCs and CLECs. The company helps service providers make the transition to all-IP networks, which in turn helps them deliver advanced multimedia services, (including triple and quadruple play, HDTV, On Demand TV, etc.). Its Service Convergence Network (SCN) architecture lets service providers roll out these advanced multimedia services quickly, reliably and inexpensively, thus enabling to compete in the market. Currently, more than 300 service providers are using Pannaway’s broadband access and transport solutions.

Pannaway’s RUS-approved components are used in its MAGNM-20 multi-service access platform and its Inteleflex broadband loop carrier solution. These highly scalable components support a wide range of access technologies, from legacy T1 and POTS to ultra-broadband, ADSL2+, bonded ADSL2+, GPON, and Active Point-to-Point Ethernet subscriber connections. Best of all, Pannaway solutions are fully manageable from a single interface.

For more information, please visit www.pannaway.com

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Patrick Barnard is Assignment Editor for TMCnet and Associate Editor for Customer Interaction Solutions magazine. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.