Calix Offers Bark Free for US Employees So They Can Help Protect Their Children From Social Media Dangers

Following the successful launch of Bark as a managed service on the Calix broadband platform—galvanizing broadband service providers to play a critical role in protecting children in their communities from online dangers—Calix makes the award-winning social media monitoring app available as a free employee benefit to all eligible U.S.-based team members

Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) is strengthening its purpose-driven culture by making Bark social media monitoring a free benefit for all employees in the United States. With this launch, Calix enhances its award-winning culture centered on employee well-being and community impact.

The AI-enabled Bark dashboard monitors children’s text messages, emails, and over 30 apps and platforms for potential safety concerns. When digital dangers such as cyberbullying or predation are detected, the parent or caregiver receives an automatic alert. This means adults can address issues immediately, without combing through every online interaction—and children retain their privacy. Bark social media monitoring works both in the home and when children are on the go.

Calix first partnered with Bark last year, adding the tool as its sixth managed service for the Calix Revenue EDGE™ solution on the Calix broadband platform. Today, an increasing number of Calix customers (ALLO Communications, Three River Communications, Tombigbee Fiber, and more) make Bark available to their subscribers as part of their managed Wi-Fi offerings. By doing so, they’re transforming their business models while doing good for their communities. As Bark is fully integrated on the Calix platform, broadband service providers (BSPs) can launch the offering in just days.

By scaling this immediate and impactful tool to thousands of subscribers, Calix customers are giving parents an actionable way to address the documented harm social media poses to children’s health.

In the U.S., suicide is now the second leading cause of death among kids ages 15-24. From 2007 to 2018, suicide rates among kids ages 10-24 increased almost 60 percent. A summary of a 2018 study posted by the National Institutes of Health concludes: “Greater time spent on online social networking promotes self-harm behavior and suicidal ideation in vulnerable adolescents.” To date, Bark has detected and addressed 1.4 million self-harm situations among children in the U.S.

Starting today, all eligible Calix employees across the U.S. can now use Bark as a free benefit.

“Every day, our BSP customers live their values by transforming communities one family, school, and business at a time,” said Michael Weening, president and chief executive officer at Calix. “Our partnership with these customers is incredibly inspiring and motivating for our team members. In today’s digital world, children face challenges their parents sometimes struggle to understand. We added Bark to our broadband platform because our customers told us that their top priority was helping their communities. With the same purpose in mind, we’re committed to safeguarding the health and wellness of the Calix team. We’re proud to leverage our partnership with Bark to help every child in our community grow up safe and protected by offering the Bark app free to our team members. Helping children and families is the right thing to do.”

Calix continues to grow its remote workforce. Visit Calix Careers to learn more.

About Calix

Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX)—Broadband service providers of all sizes leverage the Calix platform and teams to simplify their business and excite their subscribers to grow the value of their business and for their communities for generations. The democratizing power of the platform and portfolio of managed services enables them to operate efficiently, acquire subscribers, and deliver exceptional experiences. Calix is dedicated to driving continuous improvement in partnership with our growing ecosystem to support the transformation of our customers and their communities.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon management’s current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this release, and we assume no obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking statement to reflect any event or circumstance after the date of this release, except as required by law. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from current expectations based on risks and uncertainties affecting Calix’s business. The reader is cautioned not to rely on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Additional information on potential factors that could affect Calix’s results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and available at www.sec.gov.

Calix and the Calix logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Calix and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Calix’s trademarks can be found at https://www.calix.com/pages/trademarks.html. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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