2009-08-29 13:27:02 -

Zhone Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZHNE), a global leader in network access solutions, announced today that its new MXK ( ™ ) platform has been accepted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for use by RUS program participants. RUS and the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) are responsible for dispersing the $7.2 billion in economic stimulus funding allocated for broadband initiatives under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

RUS provides grants and low cost loans to help network operators secure authorized equipment to bring high-speed broadband services to rural and underserved communities. Zhone products first gained RUS acceptance in 2003, with the recently announced MXK : being the newest addition to the program.

Zhone’s MXK represents significant

milestones in broadband access networking and is expressly designed to support the new generation of HD media and on-demand video that require enormous amounts of dedicated bandwidth. In addition to providing a 2x bandwidth improvement over the closest competing platform, the MXK leverages Zhone’s well-proven SLMS ( ™ ) access operating system, giving network operators sophisticated service intelligence and intuitive management with ten years of feature development right out of the gate. The MXK is also the only platform to feature Smart OMCI ( ™ ) (Optical Network Terminal Management Control Interface) for true ONT standards-based interoperability and ease of use.

“Zhone’s MXK is well-suited to NTIA and RUS stimulus projects,” said Ron Westfall, Research Director, Access and Applications for Current Analysis. “The platform is designed to substantially reduce the cost of broadband for operators and thereby improve service availability and speed, right in line with the Obama Administration’s goals for the broadband stimulus programs.”

“We’re impressed with the performance, ease of installation, flexibility and cost effective price per port provided by Zhone,” said Jeff Lee, Plant Manager for Wisconsin based Chequamegon Communications. “The MXK has the horsepower and the backplane to offer the mega capacity and port counts we need to meet the ever-growing bandwidth desires of our customers.”

“We are very proud of what we’ve accomplished with the MXK, and we’re excited by the opportunity that RUS listing provides our customers,” said Steven Glapa, VP of product management and marketing for Zhone. “We believe that the MXK’s benchmark-setting performance can indeed make a significant contribution toward the achievement of America’s broadband objectives.”

For more information about Zhone’s MXK, or to ask about the RUS program please visit www.zhone.com/products/MXK/ : or call (877) Zhone-20 (946-6320).


About Zhone Technologies — Access for a Converging World

Zhone Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZHNE) is a global leader in multi-service access solutions, serving more than 700 of the world's most innovative network operators. The company offers the industry's only fully-integrated portfolio of MSAP, FTTx, EFM and Wi-Fi access technologies, improving network agility and reducing the costs of delivering the full spectrum of access services, including residential and business broadband, VoIP, and High-Definition IPTV — over copper, fiber, and wireless. Zhone is headquartered in California, and its MSAP products are all manufactured in the USA, in a facility that is emission, waste-water, and CFC free.

Zhone, the Zhone logo, and all Zhone product names are trademarks of Zhone Technologies, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders.

ZhoneMolly Deltoro, +1-510-777-7013 (Investor Relations)Fax:
+1-510-777-7001 investor-relations@zhone.com : mailto:investor-relations@zhone.com Tracy
Oliver, +1-510-665-7984 (Public Relations)Mobile: +1-925-640-0989 tracy@skycastlemedia.com : mailto:tracy@skycastlemedia.com