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To: James Fulop who wrote (5192)	9/12/1999 10:32:00 AM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Daines eyes fiber-optic lines in new start-up venture Worldwide Packet will design high-speed hookups for homes, offices spokane.net Mike Roarke - The Spokesman-Review Spokane _ Spokane high-tech entrepreneur Bernard Daines has filed for business permits for his latest start-up company, Worldwide Packets. Daines, who has been at odds with growth management regulators and has hinted at leaving, said for now he will keep the company in the area. "We want to be part of making things happen in Spokane," he said. Worldwide Packets is planning to tap the emerging niche market of wiring homes, offices, hotels and other buildings with high-speed fiber-optic lines. Fiber-optic wires have large capacity and can carry data hundreds of times faster than standard telephone wires. Daines contends that fiber-optic delivery will top digital-subscriber lines (DSL) and cable networks as data transmission technology evolves. "Our whole business will be working at the edge of the 'Net," he said, noting that one of the goals of the company will be increasing speed for personal Internet use. Bearing little resemblance to Packet Engines -- the networking-equipment company Daines founded and moved to Spokane in 1995 -- Worldwide Packets will make one hardware product for homes and offices that will allow users to pass and receive voice, data and video through fiber. Daines expects the early versions of this product to debut in the second or third quarter of 2000. A second device, called a multiplexer, will act like a hub, routing data to and from homes. That is expected to be released in the third or fourth quarter next year. About 12 people are involved in starting Worldwide Packets. Participants include Jeff Presley, the former president of Computech; John Overby, founder of Advanced Input Devices in Coeur d'Alene; and Octavio Morales, a former Packet Engines sales and marketing manager. Daines said he expects to employ about 50 within the next two months. At this point, the company has not accepted venture-capital financing. All initial costs will be covered out-of-pocket, he said. By the end of 2000, Daines said the company is expected to consume $15 million in start-up cash. While office buildings have the benefit of being wired with fiber optics, only a handful of the new residential developments have fiber capacity. "We don't see a lot of activity in doing what we're doing," Daines said. Daines said he is looking at two office properties in the Spokane Valley as possible locations for the company. Worldwide Packets will design its hardware products and then select a manufacturer to build them. Worldwide Packets will be the third business Daines has helped start. Along with Packet Engines, which was bought by Alcatel SA of Paris for $325 million last year, Daines co-founded Grand Junction Networks in California during the early 1990s. Grand Junction was acquired by Cisco Systems for $350 million. Following the Packet Engines buyout last December, Daines left the company, then filed suit against Alcatel. He claims Alcatel reneged on a $6 million escrow payment. Daines recently filed a second lawsuit in federal court over the escrow payment and the tax liability problems he says it has caused.