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Breakthrough Product from Affinegy Allows Broadband Service Providers to Deliver Unprecedented Level of Support to Home Networking Customers

Affinegy Management Portal delivers 360° insight into the home network environment, slashes broadband service provider support costs and enhances the customer experience. New support tool puts comprehensive set of data in front of technical support personnel and operations managers to enable streamlined workforce & process management, dramatically reduced support call times and simple multi-subscriber downloads, upgrades and fixes.

Austin, TX (PRWEB) June 24, 2008 -- Affinegy, Inc. today announced Version 2.0 of its Affinegy Management Portal software, a new internally developed product that enables broadband service providers to deliver world-class support to their home networking subscribers. The Management Portal works in conjunction with Affinegy's widely deployed InstaLAN home network management client to provide a view into the digital home previously unavailable to service provider support staff. Through a comprehensive set of under-the-hood data gathering and telemetry, the product provides critical information to service providers, delivering tremendous value in three key areas:

1. Network Installation Verification: When home networks are installed using the InstaLAN software, the Affinegy Management Portal is automatically updated with a series of key metrics from the installation process. Now operations managers can validate the completion and quality of the installation process whether performed by a technician or as part of a self-install kit. Real-time custom reporting allows insight into the efficiency of installation personnel and how well the process is working.

2. Support for Problem Resolution: Support calls related to home network issues are particularly complex and typically involve support staff asking dozens of questions of the customer in order to determine the nature of the problem. The Affinegy Management Portal is a detailed dashboard that provides the answers to all of those questions automatically, allowing the support agent to get on with the job of fixing the customer's problem, typically in less than half the time. The benefits for problem resolution are clear - reduced call times and happier customers.

3. Multi-Subscriber Maintenance: While the secure download service built into the Affinegy Management Portal allows fast and easy downloading of client updates, the benefits go well beyond this basic functionality. The product's flexible query and reporting mechanism facilitates rapid correlation of recurring issues with root cause. And because the product keeps a detailed view of each subscriber's home network environment, messaging and fixes can be easily deployed to all customers that are likely to be affected by a particular issue, eliminating problems before they become support calls.

Art Lancaster, Affinegy co-founder and Chief Technology Officer sees this as a breakthrough product and a logical extension of the Affinegy product family. "For the first time, service providers can see the subscriber service experience for the individual user, not just for the household. No longer will the home router block service providers from viewing the information needed to deliver comprehensive support. InstaLAN provides a universal management solution for the retail router and custom gateway that reports telemetry from individually connected users back to the Affinegy Management Portal in a comprehensive and easy-to-use format. Our service provider customers will find that support personnel can learn and begin using it the day it is deployed" The Affinegy Management Portal is a web-browser accessible, secure, hosted solution that is easily integrated with existing support toolsets. Future versions of the product are already in development and will add functionality in the areas of remote diagnostics, control and resolution.

Says Affinegy CEO Melissa Simpler, "We are not in the business of reinventing the wheel but instead choose to bring products to market that represent brand new and highly valuable functionality for our customers. Accordingly, the Affinegy Management Portal will deliver a very generous return on investment for our customers. We look forward to continuing to help broadband service providers maximize their profitability as they deliver high quality products, services and support to their customers."

More information on the Affinegy Management Portal and InstaLAN is available at http://www.affinegy.com/products.htm

Affinegy CEO Invited to Speak at Connections 2008, Main Session

Just prior to the keynote address of Paul Liao, CTO Panasonic North America, on Wednesday, June 24th, 2008, Melissa Simpler, CEO of Affinegy, will be featured as a panelist on a new panel addressing the renewed focus businesses are emphasizing on the customer service experience. This panel will examine the impact of a poor customer service and support experience on a company’s brand and ability to capture market share. Learn about the tools and services available to better the customer experience and to develop the one-to-one relationship with customers that engenders brand loyalty and the word of mouth affinity that will propel your company’s success. For more information on the Parks Associates Connections 2008 Conference in Santa Clara, visit http://parksassociates.com/events/connections/2008/

Affinegy’s InstaLAN™ Selected by Wireless Broadband Service Provider for Nationwide Rollout

AUSTIN, Tx.--(BUSINESS WIRE)—June 27, 2007-- Affinegy, a provider of simple, secure wireless and broadband installation and management solutions, today announced that Clearwire Corporation a leading provider of simple, portable, fast and reliable wireless high-speed Internet service, will use Affinegy’s InstaLAN™ software to deliver a seamless means to setup and secure subscribers’ Wi-Fi network devices within the home.

Affinegy's InstaLAN solution delivers a truly simple Internet connection and home network set-up and management experience through an intuitive, jargon-free user interface. Even the most novice consumer can quickly and easily self-install the required equipment and secure all wireless communication links, ensuring subscriber communications privacy and eliminating service theft.

“Affinegy is excited to work with a leading wireless broadband provider to deliver a totally wireless Internet experience,” said Melissa Simpler, CEO of Affinegy. “We’re excited by the full range of possibilities of wireless connectivity and have built InstaLAN to support future applications and premium services for home networks that include devices beyond the PC such as game consoles, portable music, game players, media receivers, wireless webcams and more.” With the addition of Clearwire as a customer, Affinegy has proven its adaptability for a variety of last mile service providers. Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Charter are other service providers who have already selected Affinegy to enhance their home networking offerings.

About InstaLAN
InstaLAN is a self-install and self-management software solution for home wireless and broadband networks that helps broadband service providers reduce customer support expense, speed advanced service deployments, and increase customer loyalty. InstaLAN runs on Windows Vista, XP, 2000, ME, and 98SE, and is compatible with devices from leading network equipment vendors Ambit Broadband, Belkin, Linksys, Netgear, and SMC Networks.

About Affinegy
Affinegy LLC provides network installation and management software solutions for broadband service providers and network equipment manufacturers that reduce the complexity and cost of deploying broadband and wireless services or products to residential and selected business markets. Affinegy's hardware-independent, self-install technology makes wireless and broadband networks easy to set up and manage, with wireless security built in from the start. Affinegy’s solutions are in deployment today through market-leading broadband and wireless internet service providers and industry leading equipment vendors. More information about Affinegy can be found at www.affinegy.com, or via email addressed to info@affinegy.com.

Affinegy Announces Spanish / English Release of its Popular InstaLAN™ Home Networking Software

Austin, TX - Nov. 1, 2006 –Affinegy announced today that its latest version of InstaLAN™ is now available in Spanish, and has been released by Cox Communications for its growing Home Networking Service.  The Software is part of Cox’s Home Networking Kit that makes it easy for its Spanish-speaking customers to securely network multiple computers in their home.

The new release is available for all of Affinegy's broadband service provider customers to help bring excellent customer service to their Spanish speaking subscribers. This release is bilingual so it can be deployed without managing a separate version, simplifying deployment and ensuring that the software is always available in either English or Spanish for all subscribers.  To keep things simple it auto detects the language of the user's computer login profile and matches that.  It also has a simple option to switch interchangeably between English and Spanish at any time without needing to relaunch the software.

"We are excited to have released this new, bilingual version of InstaLAN," said Art Lancaster, CTO, Affinegy.  "This broadens the reach of our easy and secure home networking software to serve the important Spanish speaking market.  We developed this new InstaLAN release for multi-lingual support and can rapidly add other languages on the same modular framework to serve international customers."

Affinegy InstaLAN™ tapped by Cox Communications
for Nationwide Home Networking Services

Austin, TX - Apr. 10, 2006 –Affinegy, a provider of simple, secure wireless and broadband installation and management solutions, announced today that Cox Communications will use Affinegy’s InstaLAN™ software while extending its home networking self-installation offering nationwide.

InstaLAN was piloted in select Cox markets for nine months before it was selected for national roll-out. During that time, InstaLAN met the challenge of reducing truck rolls and technical support calls.  Through InstaLAN’s intuitive user interface and streamlined process, even novice consumers can quickly set up a home network.

“Expansion of the self-install home networking kit is consistent with Cox’s commitment to delivering secure, flexible and easy-to-use data solutions for our customers,” said Missy Mitchell, broadband operations manager for Cox Communications. "Cox is constantly evolving our offerings to ensure the best possible customer experience.”
Through the self-installation process, best practices for wireless security are automatically applied for both wired and wireless networks. This protects the users from unauthorized users accessing their network to steal their personal data, conduct illegal activity or use their bandwidth while degrading their quality of service.  InstaLAN's network manager also automatically connects a subscriber to his home network and features self-repair agents that resolve connection problems without assistance from the user.
 
“InstaLAN delivers the type of subscriber experience that builds customer loyalty,” said Melissa Simpler, CEO, Affinegy. “Affinegy is excited to help Cox provide broadband home networking as a scalable and profitable service for its subscribers.”

About InstaLAN
InstaLAN is a self-install and self-management software solution for home wireless and broadband networks that helps broadband service providers reduce customer support expense, speed advanced service deployments, and increase customer loyalty. InstaLAN Digital Home extends the home networking base of InstaLAN to peripherals like gaming adapters, media receivers, and wireless webcams, and enables a whole new suite of revenue-generating services. InstaLAN runs on Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP, and is compatible with devices from leading network equipment vendors Ambit Broadband, Linksys, Netgear, and SMC Networks.

About Affinegy
Affinegy LLC provides network installation and management software solutions for broadband service providers and network equipment manufacturers that reduce the complexity and cost of deploying broadband and wireless services or products to residential and selected business markets. Affinegy's hardware-independent, self-install technology makes wireless and broadband networks easy to set up and manage, with wireless security built in from the start. Affinegy’s solutions are in deployment today through market-leading broadband and wireless internet service providers and industry leading equipment vendors. More information about Affinegy can be found at www.affinegy.com, or via email addressed to info@affinegy.com.
Affinegy the Affinegy logo, and InstaLAN are trademarks or registered trademarks of Affinegy, LLC.

Press Contact:
Kari Hernandez
INK Public Relations for Affinegy
512.382.8982
kari@ink-pr.com

Affinegy's CEO Speaks May 3, 2006 at the CONNECTIONS™ 2006 Conference Panel, "The Role of CPE and Other Solutions in Delivering Service Value"

Come to Santa Clara, CA to see the latest in Digital Living technologies at CONNECTIONS™: The Digital Home Conference and Showcase, produced by Parks Associates.  Hear Melissa Simpler, Affinegy's CEO, speak as a panelist and share how its InstaLAN™ software helps leading broadband service providers deploy home networking as a successful platform upon which to build profitable service bundles. Affinegy is a silver sponsor of the conference and will provide demonstrations at its booth.  For more information about the conference go to the CONNECTIONS website at CONNECTIONS CONFERENCE 2006 

Affinegy's CTO Speaks January 6, 2006 at the International CES, Connections(TM) Conference Panel, "Making the Network Work"

If you find home networking a challenge to set up, or as a service provider difficult to deploy and support; come hear leaders in the wireless and broadband networking industry, including Affinegy's CTO, Art Lancaster discuss these problems and their solutions at the International CES, Connections(TM) Sessions panel topic "Making the Network Work" sponsored by Parks Associates.

In his portion Mr. Lancaster will describe how smart home networking set up and management software, such as Affinegy's InstaLAN, is helping make self-installation of home networking instant and easy for leading broadband service providers and their subscribers.  Further advanced services like gaming and music/media can be automatically set up without complex user settings - even on secure wireless networks.

Beyond set up, keeping the home network working is critical.  Smart client software, like InstaLAN, automatically connects users to their own networks and avoids many wireless network pitfalls, such as hung routers, accidental connections to a neighbor's network, or having free-riders jump on and steal bandwidth.

Plan on attending International CES 2006 and coming to these informative panel sessions.

Affinegy Joins the Austin Technology Incubator and Moves its Offices into ATI

Oct. 1, 2005--Affinegy, LLC, a software developer of easy and secure wireless and broadband networking solutions headquartered in Austin, Texas, has been accepted into membership by the Austin Technology Inclubator.  ATI is one of the world's foremost entreprenuerial incubators and being accepted highlights the success that Affinegy has achieved since its founding in March of 2003.  Affinegy is joining as a charter member of the new ATI Wireless Incubator, within ATI - which includes the Wi-Fi Alliance and other inovative companies in the wireless industry. The formation of ATI Wireless, including Affinegy's membership was announced at a press conference by ATI in September.  Affinegy is moving its offices into ATI at the MCC building in Northwest Austin, TX effective October 24, 2005.

Affinegy Previews Digital Home Extensions to InstaLAN at CableLabs(R) Summer Conference 2005

KEYSTONE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2005--Affinegy, LLC, a software developer of easy and secure wireless and broadband networking solutions headquartered in Austin, Texas, today announced its latest release of InstaLAN(TM) with digital home extensions and is demonstrating a preview version here at the CableLabs(R) Summer Conference 2005

Affinegy's InstaLAN software delivers to broadband service subscribers a truly simple home network setup and management experience. InstaLAN makes it easy for even the most novice end user to self install and configure the required equipment. InstaLAN automatically secures all wireless communication links within the home network so the subscriber's privacy is protected. InstaLAN also provides an ideal solution for professional installers of advanced data services using the same process across multiple adapters, computers and operating systems; reducing training costs, installation time and improving accuracy.

InstaLAN delivers the easiest way to scale advanced home networking deployments -- the whole home network can be set up wirelessly; no new outlets need to be installed; no truck rolls are required. After setup, the subscriber enjoys a robust broadband service experience throughout his house. InstaLAN's network manager automatically connects a subscriber to his home network and features self-repair agents that resolve connection problems and avoid costly service calls.

Affinegy's latest release, InstaLAN Premium extends the InstaLAN product family by adding, among other enhanced features, automatic discovery and configuration of wireless peripherals such as gaming adapters, media receivers, and wireless web cams. In just a few, quick and intuitive steps, subscribers are able to create a secure digital home network that enhances their data network experience to support multi-player online gaming, whole home media sharing, and remote monitoring services.

"InstaLAN Premium enables broadband service providers to profitably deliver a whole new suite of revenue-generating services," said Melissa Simpler, Affinegy's CEO. "These advanced broadband services not only fuel our customer's top line revenue growth, but are the type of services that create loyal customers and lessen the rate of churn in today's highly competitive broadband service market."

InstaLAN is in deployment today by North American cable operators for self-install and professionally installed deployment of home networking services. InstaLAN Premium will be commercially available in the fourth quarter of 2005.

About Affinegy
Affinegy LLC provides network management software solutions for broadband service providers and network equipment manufacturers that reduce the complexity and cost of deploying broadband and wireless services or products to residential and selected business markets. Affinegy's hardware-agnostic, self-install technology makes wireless and broadband networks easy to set up and manage, with wireless security built in from the start. Affinegy's solutions are in deployment today through market-leading broadband service providers including Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, and Airimba Wireless and industry leading equipment vendors Ambit Broadband, Linksys, Netgear, and SMC Networks. More information about Affinegy can be found at www.affinegy.com, or via email to info@affinegy.com.

Affinegy and the Affinegy logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Affinegy, LLC. All other products or services mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective holders.

CableLabs is a trademark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.

An equipment demonstration at a CableLabs' event does not constitute CableLabs' endorsement of that equipment. 

 

 

 

 
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