Canoga Perkins Raises the Quality Bar Again

Business Wire, Nov 16, 2004

CHATSWORTH, Calif. -- Canoga Perkins, a leading provider of Optical Ethernet and CWDM transport systems, today announced it has raised the quality bar even higher by filing for TL 9000 3.0 quality management systems registration. TL 9000 is considered to be the industries toughest quality standard specific to telecommunications. It is a model for quality assurance in design, development, production, installation and servicing with an emphasis on continual improvement.

Placing a high value on quality, Canoga Perkins had been certified for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:1994 quality registration as far back as 1994, then chose to upgrade to the currently held ISO 9001:2000 quality management systems registration. ISO 9001:2000 was the industry's most stringent International quality standard prior to the recent announcement of TL 9000 registration availability. The TL 9000 registration incorporates all of the general ISO 9001:2000 requirements and then goes well beyond it with the latest quality system requirements that apply specifically to telecommunications suppliers. The advancement to TL 9000 3.0 will be another milestone in Canoga Perkins' ongoing commitment to total quality throughout its business, engineering and manufacturing operations.

The TL 9000 standard was developed by the Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications Leadership Forum (QuEST Forum), a consortium of over 100 suppliers and Service Providers in the telecommunications industry. The purpose of TL 9000 is to define the telecommunications quality system requirements for the design, development, production, delivery, installation and maintenance of products and services. Included in TL 9000 are performance-based metrics that measure reliability and quality performance of products and services.

The goal of TL 9000 is continual improvement in the telecommunications industry that will result in cost savings for suppliers and Service Providers while providing improved performance and capabilities to users of telecommunications services.

Canoga Perkins will use the new quality standard to focus on four key areas:

--Management Responsibility: Customer focus, planning, communications, policy, objectives, commitment and management review.

--Involvement of People: People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full involvement enhances their abilities to be used for the organization's benefit.

--Product Realization: Customer interface, design, purchasing and production.

--Measurement, Analysis and Improvement: Customer satisfaction, audits, control of nonconformity, data analysis and improvement.

About Canoga Perkins

Canoga Perkins is an ISO 9001:2000 registered leading provider of NEBS Level 3 tested and certified carrier class optical Ethernet, fiber optic extension and cost effective CWDM transport systems. We have offices and partnerships worldwide to support our users and offer 24x7 technical phone support at no charge for the life of the equipment. Canoga Perkins offers its customers the most technologically and functionally advanced optical networking systems available. Our equipment offers increased network reliability, improved efficiency and rapid new application development and deployment.

For more information about Canoga Perkins, contact us at 818- 678-3804 or visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.canoga.com.