Here's some background on the Concentric partnership to put some perspective on the future: (unedited)
Concentric Network Corporation Raises $75 Million in Financing from Group of International Business Partners
Funding to Fuel Global Growth; Joint Ventures Planned with New Partners Racal-Datacom, Sattel Communications, SOFTBANK, StreamLogic and Telemedia International
CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Concentric Network Corporation, a leading provider of tailored network solutions for the rapidly growing electronic commerce and Internet/intranet markets, today announced it has secured a total of $55 million in equity funding from Racal-Datacom, Inc., Sattel Communications LLC, SOFTBANK, StreamLogic and Telemedia International, Ltd.
Concentric expects to use the capital infusion to complete implementation of its new leading edge network and to finance the company's expansion on a global level. Additionally, Racal as the network integrator and network services provider is offering Concentric a line of credit up to $20 million in leases for Racal-provided services and equipment over an approximately 12-month period to complete the provisioning of Concentric's network.
At the same time, Concentric is involved in agreements with Telemedia International and Racal. These agreements will include collaboration on an international network implementation and distribution of intranet and virtual private network (VPN) products and worldwide services.
"Today, and increasingly over the next few years, businesses need to establish network solutions that include intranet and Internet communications strategies. Concentric is a pioneer in providing the powerful IP based network and services these businesses need to communicate, collaborate and share information globally," said Henry R. Nothhaft, Concentric's president and CEO. "The new financing and business partnerships ensure that Concentric will be at the forefront in providing the network and services that these companies need to succeed in a highly competitive and rapidly changing business environment."
Joint Ventures and Global Expansion
Concentric and its new financial partners are involved in complementary businesses. Racal is a leading network integrator and supplier of computer networking systems and services used worldwide to provide access to multimedia information networks. Sattel provides telecommunications equipment for public switched telephone networks and for private data networks. SOFTBANK is the world's largest publisher of computer magazines, the largest producer of computer trade shows, a leading software distributor, and a leader in supplying the global infrastructure for information technology. Telemedia International Ltd. (TMI), is a subsidiary of Telecom Italia with a global network of approximately 100 points of presence (POPs), offering a wide range of services including messaging, networking, data transmission and facility management. Telecom Italia, the parent company, is one of the largest operators of telecommunications services in the world. Concentric expects joint ventures with these new business partners will add impetus to its development as a global player in a variety of online-based markets.
"We applaud Concentric Network's alignment with these major international players and believe that the company is poised for success with its innovative business model and vision to redefine the meaning of virtual network services as a strategic resource. We believe these alliances will allow the company to expand its network globally to match the intranet/Internet requirements that consumers and enterprise users require to do business on the Internet," said Mark Roberts, analyst, Montgomery Securities.
An Advanced, Intelligent Network
The new influx of capital will help Concentric complete the implementation of its advanced, intelligent network that will support the needs of a wide variety of both business and consumer applications. Concentric's revolutionary network architecture is based on "virtual" and "super" POPs. A SuperPOP is a single large physical POP which consolidates multiple smaller POPs within a metropolitan area. Using the SuperPOP approach the company is reducing its 214 POPs to approximately 20 SuperPOPS and substantially fewer physical POPs with greater call reach. Concentric has successfully deployed SuperPOPs in Northern and Southern California and Michigan and will complete deployment in 1997. The network also features an ATM/frame relay backbone, distributed data centers, adaptive call processing and partitioned network management providing a leading-edge network that is designed to bring the highest quality of service to consumers and businesses today. The network is configurable on an application-by-application basis to ensure the optimal network performance required for each application in areas such as throughput, latency and security.
Concentric's new network infrastructure offers enhanced functionality, increased performance, reduced costs and improved reliability. It employs an open architecture to exploit price and performance advantages in communications and computing technologies and is scaleable to support millions of end-users and tens of thousands of simultaneous connections.
"We designed this network to provide unparalleled levels of performance, security, low fixed latency, and reliability, and to support business and electronic commerce applications, multimedia business services and interactive gaming applications and consumer Internet services," said Nothhaft. "Each of these applications requires different network characteristics for optimal performance. Business applications such as transaction processing require speed and security, while interactive gaming requires low fixed latency. We designed adaptive call processing to provide each customer with the optimal network performance for every application they use," continued Nothhaft.
Intranets and VPNs -- Powered by Concentric
Concentric is a leader in helping corporate customers meet a variety of business objectives through the development of VPNs and other intelligent network solutions. Its VPN and intranet solutions are tailored to support the performance and business needs of each of its customers. Concentric's VPN and intranet customers include companies such as Intuit, Sega America, and WebTV. Concentric provides the network infrastructure for Intuit's Quicken Financial Network which provides financial information to users of Intuit's Quicken software. The company also provides the networked connectivity for Sega's Saturn(TM) Net Link videogame console which brings the Internet to television; and for WebTV's set-top Internet TV service.
About Racal-Datacom Inc.
Racal offers comprehensive network services and solutions on a global basis. The company's capabilities extend from network design and optimization, to integration, implementation, maintenance, support and complete management of customer networks. Racal's services and products provide customers with access to multimedia information networks.
About Sattel Communications
Sattel Communications, a subsidiary of The Diana Corporation (NYSE: DNA), provides scaleable switching solutions to traditional and emerging telecom and Internet service providers worldwide.
About SOFTBANK
SOFTBANK Corporation is the world's largest publisher of computer-related magazines and books, and is the world's largest producer of technology-related trade shows and expositions. In Japan, SOFTBANK is the largest distributor of computer software, peripherals, and systems. SOFTBANK, whose stock is traded over-the-counter in Tokyo, had revenues of $1.6 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 1996. SOFTBANK has approximately 6,000 employees worldwide.
About StreamLogic Corporation
StreamLogic develops and markets leading-edge video delivery, digital media storage, and networking RAID and data management solutions. Current product offerings include VIDEON(TM), the industry's first family of video-on-demand server subsystems, the innovative Video Disk Recorder (VDR) video editing appliance, the award-winning Hammer(R) high-performance storage products, and the industry leading RAIDION(R) family of fault-tolerant network RAID and data management solutions. The company sells to OEMs and systems integrators and has a well-established international network distribution and dealer channel partners. StreamLogic corporate headquarters are located in Chatsworth, California, with marketing, sales, engineering, customer service, and manufacturing operations in Menlo Park and Chatsworth California.
About Telemedia International Ltd.
TMI is wholly owned by Telecom Italia, one of the largest telecommunications company in the world. TMI provides advanced services for data, voice and image transmission to multinational companies and organizations. TMI's network covers Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa, with four main regional offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires and POPs all over the world, all equipped with staff that meet the highest international standards. TMI, established as a global operator, is your perfect partner.
About Concentric
Concentric Network Corp., is a fast-growing, venture-backed private company headquartered in Cupertino, Calif. Founded in 1991, the company has established itself as a market leader in providing virtual private networks and consumer Internet access. It has nearly 250 employees and a data network with 214 POPs in the United States and Canada. The company is rapidly deploying a SuperPOP based network which consolidates multiple smaller POPs within a metropolitan area. The company has a proven ability to react quickly to market and technology changes and has designed a network architecture and deployment strategy that promises to cost-effectively support a wide range of networking applications for enterprise, consumer and wholesale users. Concentric Network's web address is concentric.net.
SOURCE Concentric Network Corp.
-0- 09/30/96
/CONTACT: Donna Loughlin of Concentric Network Corp., 408-343-2203; or Christopher Castillo of Neale-May & Partners, 415-328-5555, ext. 126, for Concentric/
(DNA)
CO: Concentric Network Corp.; Racal-Datacom Inc.; Sattel Communications; SOFTBANK Corporation; StreamLogic Corporation; Telemedia International
Ltd. ST: California IN: CPR SU: FNC
Copyright 1996 PR Newswire. All rights reserved |
