Lucent Technologies To Purchase Prominet Corporation, A Leader In Gigabit Ethernet Intelligent Networking
MURRAY HILL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 1997--
Purchase of Prominet Adds to Growing Data Networking Portfolio
In another move to address high-growth opportunities in the data
networking business, Lucent Technologies today said it will acquire
Prominet Corporation, a Marlborough, MA.-based start-up developer of
high-performance local area network (LAN) switching equipment, for
approximately $200 million worth of Lucent stock. Prominet is a
leader in developing switches that connect PCs, workstations and
servers using Gigabit Ethernet and integrated routing, which is
referred to as Layer2/Layer 3 capabilities in the data networking
industry. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of
the quarter ending March 31, 1998.
In September Lucent introduced a strategy to address the data
networking business and announced a series of new and enhanced
products.
"When we unveiled our new products, we recognized that network
managers would look to two technologies to deliver high performance
data connectivity - ATM and Ethernet," said Bill O'Shea, president
of Lucent's Data Networking Systems group. "At that time we
announced a portfolio of intelligent switches based on ATM
technology. Today we fill in a key component of our intelligent
switch offer with this acquisition of Prominet, a leading developer
of Layer 2/Layer 3 Gigabit Ethernet LAN technology."
"Computer users have an insatiable demand for more bandwidth to
communicate through LANs and over wide area networks like the
Internet," O'Shea said. "That's why the Gigabit Ethernet industry
is expected to grow from infancy today to $1 billion by 2000."
"Prominet meets this need with best-in-class Gigabit Ethernet
technology that integrates switching and routing functionality to
smash through existing network bandwidth bottlenecks. We are
acquiring technology that is clearly next-generation in performance,
yet compatible with more than 80% of the networks users have in place
globally today," he said. "We are also impressed with how quickly
Prominet has built its worldwide reseller channel, which will help
ensure the success of this Gigabit Ethernet initiative."
Menachem E. Abraham, president and CEO of Prominet, will join
Lucent as president, Gigabit Ethernet Switching Products, in its Data
Networking Systems group.
"When we founded the company in 1996, our goal was to develop and
deliver products that would make Prominet the leader in
gigabit-scaled campus networking," Abraham said. "We are keeping
that promise with the delivery of products that clearly are ahead of
the industry."
"But leadership is more than the best technology," he said. "We
are joining a Lucent data networking team on the move. It is backed
by Bell Labs, has a proven heritage of premier customer relationships
and delivers a leading professional services and support capability.
Together we will set a new standard in campus networking."
The Prominet group will team with Lucent's data networking
organization in Concord, MA., only minutes from the Prominet
headquarters in Marlborough.
The purchase is expected to result in a one-time, non-cash charge
against earnings. The charge involves an accounting writeoff
assigned to in-process research and development and will be taken in
the second fiscal quarter of 1998 assuming the transaction is closed
by March. 31, 1998. Excluding this one time charge, the impact of
the purchase to earnings in fiscal 1998 is expected to be immaterial.
Prominet, a privately held corporation founded in 1996, designs,
builds and markets a new generation of network center and
high-performance workgroup LAN solutions serving campus LAN customers
globally. The company employs more than 80 people.
In September, Prominet began shipping its highly reliable P550(TM)
Cajun(TM) Switch -the industry's highest-capacity, multilayer switch
that provides 10/100/1000 megabits per second of capacity in a
compact, fault tolerant 7-slot chassis. The P550 Switch's 45.76
gigabits per second (Gbps) of total backplane capacity means network
managers can deliver more than 33 million packets per second of
system throughput.
In the first half of 1998 Prominet expects to begin customer trials
of the P550(TM) Cajun(TM) Switch with Integrated Routing, enabling
scalable, packet-by-packet, IP and IPX routing at wire speed with all
the unrivaled Layer 2 switching capabilities of the initial P550
Cajun Switch - in the same 7-slot chassis. This new technology
performs the same Layer 3 functions as legacy software-based routers,
but at multi-gigabit speeds and at a fraction of the cost. The
silicon-based implementation enables full multi-level Quality of
Service (QoS) capabilities, including the ability to make routing and
prioritization decisions based on Layer 3 and Layer 4 application
information, all at full 10/100/1000 wire speeds.
In September, Lucent introduced an enhanced portfolio of intelligent
switching, access and network management products as a part of its
plan to dramatically improve data networking performance.
In October, Lucent said it will acquire Livingston Enterprises,
Inc., of Pleasanton, Calif., a leading provider of remote access
networking solutions for the Internet. The transaction is expected
to be completed this month.
As a part of its data networking portfolio, Lucent also offers
industry-leading professional support services capabilities through
NetCare(R) Services, a broad set of consulting, integration,
management and maintenance services for multivendor data and video
networks, voice systems and networks and call centers.
For more information on Prominet, browse the company's home page at
prominet.com.
CONTACT:
For Lucent: For Lucent:
John Callahan Lynda Beighley
908-953-5350 (office) 908-582-3060 (office)
703-758-1449 (home) 973-635-7959 (home)
johncallahan@lucent.com lbeighley@lucent.com
or
For Prominet:
John H. Ricciardone
508-303-8885 x234 (office)
781-334-5754 (home)
john-ricciardone@prominet.com |
