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Technology Stocks : Winstar Comm. (WCII) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: limtex who wrote (10762)	3/16/1999 3:13:00 PM
From: Pamela Murray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12468

Industry Expert, Robert Stead, Joins Okane International as Chief Financial Officer Business Wire - March 16, 1999 13:51 BOTHELL, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 16, 1999--Today, Robert Stead, the business development leader of Avant Garde Telecommunications Inc. has joined Okane International (OTC BB:OKNI) (Superwire.com), as the Chief Financial Officer, to lead the next phase of the company's aggressive finance strategy. Many industry followers know Avant Garde as the company WinStar Communications (Nasdaq:WCII), integrated into their wireless competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) Network. WinStar has employed Avant Garde's technology into its "last mile solution" which is the wireless, advanced broadband local access service, business consumers the world over have benefited from. Some of Stead's achievements while at WinStar and Avant Garde are: -- From its inception, he played a major role in building Avant Garde to be the largest holder of 38 GHz spectrum in the United States. Avant Garde pioneered commercial use of this millimeter wave frequency band that had previously not been deployed on a wide-scale basis in a telecommunications network in the the U.S. Stead reported directly to the President and CEO of the company, Leo I. George, a renowned telecom leader. -- Participated in the management team of the project which laid out and constructed the wireless network infrastructure in 30 of the largest markets in the U.S. This effort fulfilled facilities build-out requirements required by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). -- Directed business development for the WinStar Broadcasting unit. This was executed for the company before its interests were profitably sold to its joint venture partners. -- Under the direction of George, Stead was instrumental in securing FCC Grants of licenses ultimately required to deploy all WinStar services. This includes interaction with the FCC for the allocation of "wireless spectrum." Located at Okane's head office in Bothell, Wash., Stead's position as CFO will put him in charge of major financings, interfacing with Wall St. analysts, reporting to the SEC and FCC and all regulatory requirements for the company. Initially, he will work on securing a financing to satisfy the requirements of Okane's business plan. From there, he will see that the company meets all of its necessary financings, allowing the company to successfully roll out its Superwire.com services to residential and commercial customers in various marketplaces. James W. Truher, Chairman and CEO of the company said, "Bob Stead offers the company the full time, Wall St. sophistication that it deserves. We are grateful to have someone with this level of past success responsible for future financings and SEC and FCC reporting. Okane makes return on investment to our shareholders a top priority, and Bob Stead is part of how we plan to achieve that promise and further our growth." Before joining WinStar, Stead was portfolio manager for equity and equity options holdings of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) securities for proprietary trading accounts of Geldermann Securities, Inc. Geldermann, which has subsequently been acquired, was a member of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBT) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). Stead holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy from the University of Illinois. He later earned a Master's of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Miami. Okane, through its wholly owned subsidiary, High Speed Communications, Inc. is one of the first companies to address "broadband" or "high speed" access between new generation data network infrastructures (ATM-Asynchronous Transfer Mode and IP-Internet Protocol) and customers demand for "media-rich" services. This will be done by creating a universal network through the convergence of the extensive cable and telephone infrastructures. Okane's subsidiary, High Speed, will use licensed and proprietary technologies to provide cable and telephone (CLEC, ILEC & Wireless) partners and customers with cost and other advantages in offering a wide variety of services including telephone, e-commerce applications, broadcast portal service, and interactive video. High Speed plans to acquire additional technologies, which together with its current "two-way" patent and Entrata's Multi-Service Access devices will significantly improve the provisioning of high-speed interactive functionality. Services resulting from this high-speed access and High Speed's media partners will provide a platform for all wire-line and wireless companies to compete in this multi-billion dollar broadband market. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties which may cause the actual results or objectives to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things, the Company's financial performance; changes in the competitive environment; adverse changes in the economy; ability to maintain long-term relationships with customers; and financing requirements