OPNT acquisition, stock down at the moment...
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Wednesday March 21, 6:53 am Eastern Time
OPNET to Acquire The NetMaker Division of Make Systems, Inc; Make's NetMaker Software will Broaden and Accelerate OPNET's Service Provider Solutions
BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2001-- A Company conference call will be
held today at 9:00 A.M. EST
OPNET Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPNT - news), the leading provider of predictive network
management software, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire
substantially all of the assets and operations of the Cary, North Carolina-based NetMaker
division of Make Systems, Inc., a privately held software company headquartered in San Mateo,
California. The acquisition contributes key components to OPNET's product roadmap by
broadening the Company's product suite for the service provider market.
The purchase price for the transaction, which is expected to close by the end of the month,
includes approximately $5 million in cash and up to 675,000 shares of OPNET common stock.
Make offers a sophisticated suite of products that address the operational and engineering
needs of traditional and next-generation network service providers. Make's ``MainStation''
product incorporates extensive research and development in automated network design for
large networks. MainStation technology is highly scalable, and is unique in its ability to
automatically create designs based on ATM, IP, and MPLS technologies simultaneously.
MainStation benefits service providers by recommending minimum-cost network designs that
still achieve desired performance levels, thereby improving competitiveness, operational
efficiency, and return on capital investment.
``Design is one of the important components of Predictive Network Management, and we
believe that NetMaker's advanced technologies for automated network design are
best-in-class,'' said Alain Cohen, President and CTO of OPNET. ``We are very excited about
the synergies that this acquisition brings to our product suite, especially our upcoming service
provider product, Service Provider Guru. The Make products fit squarely into our strategy of
maximizing the value obtained from network resources, reducing the costs and time required to
operate networks, and improving service levels.''
``The combination of OPNET's extensive predictive network management capabilities and
MainStation's unique multi-layer design capabilities will enable service provider operational staff,
as well as planning groups, to confidently make rapid decisions about their network resources
and configurations.'' said Dr. Ed Sykes, CTO of Make Systems. ``There is also a good cultural
match between the NetMaker team, which is primarily a technical group, and the engineering
divisions of OPNET; this will facilitate the integration of the products and the companies.''
As part of the transaction, OPNET will retain the bulk of NetMaker's technical staff, including all
of NetMaker's senior technical management. OPNET will also acquire most of the assets of the
division, including all software products released to date and under development. NetMaker's
services activities will be integrated into OPNET's consulting division. ``This is an excellent
opportunity to rapidly attract and retain highly-qualified technical staff with experience in our
field'', said Marc Cohen, Chairman and CEO of OPNET. ``The new staff will significantly add to
our R&D capability and NetMaker's advanced software will enrich our service provider products.
Both of these factors contribute to further enhancing our leading position in the predictive
network management market.''
NetMaker's current products will be sold through OPNET's sales force and international
distribution channels. OPNET plans to incorporate this technology into future versions of its
upcoming Service Provider Guru product. The first release of Service Provider Guru is
scheduled to begin shipping by June 30th of this year.
The Company will hold an investor conference call on Wednesday, March 21, 2001 at 9:00 A.M.
Eastern Standard Time. Investors will be able to listen to the call by dialing 888-753-6322 in the
U.S. or +1.415.537.1987 internationally, shortly before the scheduled starting time. The call will
be available for replay until 11:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time on March 28 by dialing
800-633-8284 in the U.S. or +1.858.812.6440 internationally. For replay, enter reservation
number 18368589.
About OPNET Technologies, Inc.
Founded in 1986, OPNET Technologies, Inc. is the leading provider of predictive network
management software. The OPNET product suite combines predictive modeling and a
comprehensive understanding of networking technologies to enable its customers to more
effectively design and deploy networks, provision services, diagnose network and application
performance problems, and predict the impact of proposed network modifications. For more
information about OPNET and its products, visit www.opnet.com. |
