This should be an interesting one to watch:
www2.ipo.com
although maybe not as exciting as this one:
www2.ipo.com
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More info:
Company Description
We develop and market software-based optical networking products that enable
network service providers to quickly and cost effectively provide bandwidth and
create new high speed data services. Our target customers are competitive local
exchange carriers, incumbent local exchange carriers, long distance carriers,
Internet service providers, cable operators, foreign telephone companies and
wholesale carriers, all of which we refer to as "service providers". We believe
that the existing public network is unable to meet the demands of high speed
data applications that are driving network growth. As data traffic on the
public network continues to grow at rates that surpass available network
capacity, we believe that service providers will require new solutions to
relieve network congestion and create new data services.
We call our products "intelligent optical networking products" because they
are designed to transmit and manage data directly on wave lengths of light,
"wavelengths", for transmission over fiber optic cable. This will improve the
efficiency of the network, because data can be moved across the network and
managed entirely in the optical domain. In contrast, the existing SONET/SDH
architecture requires optical signals travelling across the network to be
converted into electrical signals at each network transit point, and then re-
converted into optical signals for transport to the next transit point. The
multiple conversions required in a SONET/SDH network increase network
complexity and cost. Our products are based on a common software architecture
that we believe has a number of significant benefits, including accelerating
our release of new products and enabling our customers to upgrade their
networks without significant new capital equipment or retraining.
Our products are designed to address the current and future needs of service
providers by offering an end-to-end optical networking solution that provides
the following benefits:
. Improves Network Flexibility and Scalability. Our software-based
equipment is designed to allow service providers to improve the
flexibility and scalability of their networks without the long lead times
and large initial capital investment presently required for a network
buildout.
. Enables Rapid Service Delivery. Our products are designed to shorten the
time it takes for service providers to increase bandwidth and provide
services.
. Facilitates Introduction of New Data Services and Creation of New Revenue
Opportunities for Service Providers. The software-based intelligence of
our products allows us to rapidly introduce new features into our
products, which can in turn be offered as new services by service
providers to their customers.
. Protects Existing Investments. Our products are designed to enable
service providers to increase the functionality and improve the
performance of their networks without sacrificing their existing
infrastructure investments in SONET/SDH equipment.
We market our products through a direct sales force and intend to establish
relationships with selected original equipment manufacturers and other
marketing partners, both domestically and internationally. In addition, we work
collaboratively with our customers and prospective customers to help them
identify and create new high speed data services that they can offer to their
customers. We believe that this assistance is an integral aspect of our sales
and marketing efforts.
Competition
The market for intelligent optical networking products is intensely
competitive, subject to rapid technological change and significantly affected
by new product introductions and other market activities of industry
participants. We expect competition to persist and intensify in the future.
Our primary sources of competition include vendors of optical network
equipment, such as Ciena Corporation, Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks,
and private companies that have focused on our target market. Many of our
competitors have significantly greater financial resources than us and are
able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion, sale and
support of their products. In addition, many of our competitors have more
extensive customer bases and broader customer relationships than us, including
relationships with our potential customers.
In order to compete effectively, we must deliver products that:
. provide extremely high network reliability;
. scale easily and efficiently with minimum disruption to the network;
. interoperate with existing network designs and equipment vendors;
. reduce the complexity of the network by decreasing the need for
overlapping equipment;
. provide effective network management; and
. provide a cost-effective solution for service providers.
In addition, we believe that a knowledge of the infrastructure requirements
applicable to service providers, experience in working with service providers
to develop new services for their customers, and an ability to provide vendor-
sponsored financing are important competitive factors in our market. We do not
currently have the ability to provide vendor-sponsored financing and this may
influence the purchasing decision of prospective customers, who may decide to
purchase products from one of our competitors who offers such financing. See
"Risk Factors--We Face Intense Competition."
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