In this month’s blog, we have opted to showcase a unique and rewarding partnership that Midwest Video Solutions (MVS) has with Allied Telesis (Allied), a company that provides triple-play telecommunication services to Air Force Bases in Asia.
Allied has been serving customers in the telecommunications sector since 1987. Prior to doing business with MVS, Allied had been manufacturing and selling access equipment to one of MVS’s affiliate members, Vernon Communications.
Vernon Communications is a telephone cooperative, located in rural Westby, Wisconsin offering triple-play services, telephone, Internet, and television to their subscribers. As the relationship between Allied and Vernon Communications grew, and trust was built, Allied Telesis’ Chief Executive Officer, Keith Southard approached Vernon Communication’s Chief Executive Officer, Rodney Olson in regards to partnering on a proof of concept for the Army and Air Force Exchange Services (AAFES) for providing video services to military bases overseas.
This proof of concept was to determine if a rural headend, Midwest TelNet, located in Viroqua, Wisconsin, could transport quality video signal, with low latency, halfway around the world, via a fiber optic network. The Air Force Base they intended to provide these services to initially was located in Yakota, Japan.
This idea, in 2006, was intriguing and the idea of being able to give the Air Force Member’s and their families a sense of normalcy while being away from home was rewarding. Therefore, Allied, Vernon Communications and Midwest TelNet were committed to try and make this concept a reality. This is exactly what happened and why MVS is fortunate to continue working with Allied today to provide a high quality, low latency video signal that traverses a fiber optic network halfway around the world. At this time, Midwest TelNet was also providing headend signals to power video solutions to six other telcos in Wisconsin.
Two years later, in 2008, Midwest TelNet merged with the two other current MVS owners, WIN Technology and Tri County Communications. Since then, Midwest Video Solutions has also brought on board another owner, AcenTek. MVS, alongside all four of the owners, very much value the relationship with Allied Telesis and continue to look at options in the video landscape that will bring value to those that serve our country.
As MVS reflects on this partnership, we realize how grateful we are for the opportunity to have been part of this story from the beginning and how grateful we are for the opportunity to continue to serve these Air Force Bases, along with additional areas in South Korea as well now, 16 years later.
