[Zaffire Adds Broadband Office and Williams Communications as Strategic Investors; Joins Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Juniper Networks in Second Round of Funding]
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 2000--Zaffire(tm) Inc., formerly known as New Access Communications, today announced that it has added Broadband Office, Inc. and Williams Communications (NYSE: WCG) as strategic investors. These two leading edge service providers join Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) in the company's second round of funding, bringing the total funding in the company to over $26 million. The company's first-round financing was funded by MRV Communications (NASDAQ: MRVC).
Zaffire is developing a next-generation, service-aware optical networking solution for metro and regional service providers. The company expects to announce products based on its breakthrough technologies in the second quarter of this year.
According to Vinod Khosla, general partner at KPCB, "Zaffire fits well with our vision of the overall build-out of public and private networks as they evolve to meet rapidly increasing traffic demands. By treating data in its native form rather than simple TDM bit streams, the Zaffire system will allow for dramatic price reductions in transport costs as well as significant improvements in network manageability."
"We are gratified to have the support of such premier customers as Broadband Office and Williams Communications as strategic investors and partners. Their deep market expertise will be crucial assets to us as we develop and deploy a next-generation system to solve the bottleneck problems, service constraints, and prohibitive costs of existing metro optical transport systems," said Near Margalit, founder and chief technical officer, Zaffire, Inc. "In having these investors join KPCB, Juniper, and MRV, we feel we are very well positioned to become the leader in the next wave of optical infrastructure deployments targeted at the metro and regional space."
According to Matt Bross, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Williams Communications, "Solutions such as those being developed by Zaffire will become an increasingly critical factor to the performance of the worldwide public network as the use of that network continues to grow over time. We intend to actively participate in the development of these types of solutions with an overall goal of maintaining our leadership position in the communications marketplace and continuing to deliver the best possible performance, quality and service to our customers."
In October 1999, Zaffire named Anthony Lavia, Ph.D, as the chief executive officer and president of the company. Lavia, who is a veteran in the telecommunications industry, has served in executive management positions at Newbridge Networks, Nortel and Bell Canada.
William R. Hearst, III, general partner, KPCB, Pradeep Sindhu, founder, vice chairman and chief technical officer, Juniper Networks and Noam Lotan, chief executive officer and president, MRV Communications are members of the Zaffire board of directors. Executive board members include Near Margalit, Zaffire chief technical officer and Anthony Lavia, Ph.D., Zaffire chief executive officer and president and chairman of the board.
About Zaffire
Zaffire Inc., formerly New Access Communications, is a high-technology company focused on developing a next-generation, optical services networking system for service providers worldwide. The company is recognized as an emerging leader in building optical networking solutions for metro and regional service provider applications. Zaffire's breakthrough optical technologies have been well received by new-generation carriers, CLECs, RBOCs, and IXCs. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California. For more information, please visit our web site at zaffire.com
About BroadBand Office
BroadBand Office, Inc. was launched in July 1999 by KPCB and the country's largest real estate companies. BroadBand Office's core business is to enable customers within its network footprint to simply plug into a BroadBand Office wall jack and immediately have access to a full range of next generation communications/Internet services and e-business solutions. Its offerings include local, long distance, and wireless voice services, dedicated Internet access, and advanced Internet services including remote access, virtual private networks (VPN), web hosting, video, and e-business solutions. BroadBand Office's footprint spans nearly 20 percent of all the commercial office space in the United States. BroadBand Office began providing service in the fourth quarter of 1999, and is currently rolling out its services nationally. More information about BroadBand Office can be found on the World Wide Web at: broadbandoffice.net
About Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of purpose-built systems that meet the scalability, performance, density, and compatibility requirements of rapidly evolving, optically enabled IP networks. The company's purpose-built systems provide new IP infrastructure solutions for the world's leading service providers. Juniper Networks(R) service, manufacturing teams, and IP engineers work closely with customers to build and support customer networks. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California. juniper.net
About MRV Communications
MRV Communications, Inc. is a world class leader in optical network components and systems. The company has leveraged its early leadership in fiber optic transmission into a well-focused range of solutions, integrating switching, routing, access servers and optical transmission systems. As the Internet evolves into a single global communication network, MRV has launched the development of new technologies to drive the next generation infrastructures. Such developments encompass optical access systems, subscribers' management systems and Linux-based solutions. MRV has initiated and funded cutting edge start-up companies including Zaffire, Inc. (formerly known as New Access Communications), Charlotte's Networks, Hyperchannel and Zuma Networks. mrv.com
About Williams Communications Group, Inc. (NYSE:WCG)
Williams Communications, through its subsidiaries, is North America's only exclusively carrier-focused fiber-optic network and the largest independent source of end-to-end integrated business communications solutions---data, voice or video. Based in Tulsa, Okla., Williams Communications had revenues of $2 billion in 1999 and today has 9,000 employees primarily in North America, with offices in Europe and Asia and investments in South America and Australia. Approximately 85 percent of WCG stock is held by Williams (NYSE:WMB) which, in 1985, became the first energy company to harness its core competency as a builder of networks to enable competition in the communications industry. Additional information is available at williams.com and williamscommunications.com.
Zaffire is a trademark of Zaffire, Inc. Copyright (c) 2000, Zaffire, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
CONTACT:
A&R Partners
Kimberly Kupiecki, 650/762-2825
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