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16th Anniversary - 1981 to 1997 NEWS
OBB FTEL For Immediate Release: January 30, 1997
FRANKLIN TO ACQUIRE INTERNET PASSPORT
Westlake Village, CA. & Atlanta GA. Franklin Telecom announced today that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Internet Passport (IP), subject to Board approval of both companies. Internet Passport <http://www.internetpassport.com> offers a variety of high end Internet business products and services which are only available through Internet Passport. These include satellite Internet access products as well as other high speed and satellite oriented products. These products and services will enhance the capabilities of FNet, Franklin's Internet division. Internet Passport will maintain and expand its current headquarters in Atlanta.
According to Frank Peters, president and CEO of Franklin Telecom, "We see this acquisition as a significant move toward expanding our infrastructure which, from the outset, has been directed toward business clients who require extremely sophisticated high speed Internet and Intranet configurations. We currently offer hardware solutions through Franklin Telecom. Now, with the additional capabilities of our combined companies, we will be able to offer a total high-speed solution via Satellite. When we integrate the Internet Passport network operations center (which includes Internet Passport's redundant satellite uplink centers and receiving equipment) with the FNet network we will create a completely redundant network which will insure reliability and bring us even closer to our philosophy of `no busy'."
Sparrow Marcioni, president and CEO of Internet Passport, will continue as the CEO of IP and accept a position as Vice President of Franklin.
According to Marcioni, "Internet Passport specializes in offering solutions that allow Internet access providers and corporations to address their high bandwidth needs and expand their product offering to the Internet community. I strongly believe that these products and services in combination with Franklin Telecom and FNET products will place us ahead of most Internet oriented companies today. We intend to continue developing new Internet products and services that allow our customers to maintain that advanced position for years to come."
Franklin Telecom, founded in 1981, designs and manufactures communications devices, high speed LAN & WAN access cards and software. Franklin has an installed base of over 100,000 nodes worldwide
Internet Passport, founded in 1991, provides private communications networks as well as Internet for high speed LAN access via Satellite plus Group Software.
For additional information contact Helen West at Franklin headquarters (1-800-FRANKLN) and
for the latest up-to-minute information about Franklin Telecom and FNet, visit our web site:
ftel.com
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