Santa Clara network firm builds stimulus task force to show them the money - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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billion in broadband grants allotted underthe $787 billiob federal stimulus package. But that didn’tf stop the maker of Ethernet networks from setting up itsown 11-member stimuluds package task force in Aprilo to look at funding And it didn’t stop the Santa Clara company from movingf quickly to get on a list of approvede vendors to sell the equipment to service providerss who will receive granta for $2.
5 billion in rural broadband That money is being directex specifically to independent telecom and on June 9, Extreme will hold a webinar for ruralp telecom providers to explain how they can apply for It makes sense considering that Extreme’s Ethernetr networks support data, voicde and video for enterprises and telecomk providers. “These grants are going to enabls our customers to upgradethe networks, and what we’rr hoping to do is provide let them know what we’re doing and that we’rde on the approved vendor said Peter Lunk, senior director of servicwe provider marketing for Extreme.
“We thinj the focus of providing broadband to rural communitiews and creating jobs around these networks is agreat opportunity.” Whilew U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, has suggested that Palo Alto apply for stimulus fundsw directed at installing or upgrading broadband in unserved orunderservedc communities, Extreme’s director of service provider marketing Mark Showalter said there’a little opportunity to build out networkds between Silicon Valley and San Francisco, and the focu s will probably be more toward rural middle America and California’s Central Valley.
But, Lunk admitted, nobod y can really be sure what the opportunity will be untikl the final rulesare released. That is expectedr at the end of June. In just a single quarter, the North American carrier marketplace waswortjh $590 million, Showalter said, and that was beforse stimulus funding hit. “There is enough of an opportunity for us to create the task butI don’t think we can quantift it yet,” Lunk said. “We believe the opportunit y is there.” According to Extreme Networks’ Aprill 23 earnings call, revenue for the quarteer ending March 29was $77.2 down 6 percent from the same quartetr last year.
President and CEO Mark Canepz said business for the quarter was slow to starft and wasmore back-end loaded than normal, according to a transcripgt of the call.