Gotta love a Minnesota innovator!

(Bemidji, MN) (November 20, 2017)— Paul Bunyan Communications’ GigaZone Gaming Championship, the first stadium-style eSporting event in northern Minnesota, has been awarded the Calix Best Innovation in Residential
Subscriber Experience for 2017.
The Calix Innovation Awards are given annually to Calix customers – technology companies from around the
world – who demonstrated outstanding creativity when leveraging Calix technology to deploy best-in-class
services. The award recognizes innovation in the use of access, premises, and cloud technologies to transform
businesses and networks.
“Congratulations to Paul Bunyan Communications on their Best of Innovation in Residential Subscriber Experience
Award!” said Michael Weening, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Calix. “Typically, events of this type
and caliber are only found in major metropolitan areas. The GigaZone Gaming Championship and other progressive initiatives underscore Paul Bunyan’s commitment to their rural region and their willingness to be industry innovators and leaders, whether that’s building one of the largest rural all-fiber optic gigabit broadband networks in the country or creating this exceptional gaming event. The award is well deserved.”
“We are honored to receive this innovation award from Calix. It’s very rewarding to see how the region is embracing
this event that showcases our Calix-enabled broadband technology and creative and talented technical team..
Attendance doubled at our second GigaZone Gaming Championship held in September!” said Gary Johnson, Paul
Bunyan Communications CEO/General Manager.
This international award is the second prominent recognition the GigaZone Gaming Championship has received this year. In May, Paul Bunyan Communications received the 2017 TeleChoice Award for their complete marketing campaign of the GigaZone Gaming Championship by the NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association. The annual awards program honors excellence in public relations and marketing.
For more information about the GigaZone Gaming Championship, visit http://www.gigazonegaming.com. Information regarding Paul Bunyan Communications and their GigaZone gigabit Internet service is at http://www.paulbunyan.net.
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About Calix
Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) pioneered Software Defined Access and cloud products focused on access networks and the subscriber. Its portfolio of Intelligent Access systems and software combines AXOS, the revolutionary platform for access, and EXOS, the experience OS, with Calix Cloud, innovative cloud products for network data analytics and subscriber experience assurance. Together, they enable
communications service providers to transform their businesses and be the winning service providers of tomorrow. For more information, visit the Calix website at http://www.calix.com.
About Paul Bunyan Communications
Paul Bunyan Communications has the region’s largest and fastest all fiber optic network with over 5,000 square miles throughout most of Beltrami
County and portions of Cass, Hubbard, Itasca, Koochiching, and St. Louis Counties. The Cooperative provides Broadband High Speed Internet Services including the GigaZone, digital and high definition television services, Smart Home services, digital voice services, Residential and
Business IT services, and is also northern Minnesota’s certified Apple Service Center.