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AGENCY CONTACT Janis Ulevich Ulevich & Orrange, Inc. 650.329.1590 info@u-o.com |
PACKET DESIGN SPINS OFF TWO NEW COMPANIES TO FOCUS ON CONTROL-PLANE ENHANCEMENTS, HIGH-SPEED NETWORKING
PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 18, 2003 - Packet Design, LLC, the company formed in May 2000 by former Cisco executives and longtime technology entrepreneurs Judy Estrin and Bill Carrico to address Internet infrastructure problems, has spun off two new companies to further develop and market its networking technologies.
One of the spinoffs, Packet Design, Inc., will offer a family of network appliances that extends the routing control plane to enhance the reliability, performance, scalability and predictability of IP networks. The company's initial product, Route Explorer, announced last year, provides unprecedented visibility, analysis and diagnosis of an enterprise or service provider's IP network. Additional routing-related intellectual property, including Packet Design's BST, a protocol for enhancing the reliability, scalability and security of the widely-used BGP routing protocol, also will be transferred to this spinoff.
The second spinoff, Precision I/O, will commercialize a new high-speed networking architecture developed by Packet Design that will allow servers to take full advantage of rapidly increasing networking speeds, including 10-gigabit-per-second Ethernet and beyond. The company plans to offer both hardware (chip- and board-level) and software products, the first of which will be announced later this year.
The two new entities join an earlier Packet Design spinoff, Vernier Networks, Inc., formed in March 2001, which markets 802.11-based wireless network security and management systems.
In addition to intellectual property and products, parent company Packet Design LLC is transferring significant technical resources into each spinoff company. Packet Design LLC will maintain a significant ownership position in the spinoffs, and will continue to assist them in their development and funding and manage common services.
Spinoffs Target Growth Segments in Networking
"Now that users have installed a huge network infrastructure base, they are looking for ways to make that infrastructure more available, efficient and secure," Estrin said. "They also want it to be more flexible, especially in terms of supporting worker mobility. Packet Design's three spinoff companies offer well differentiated technologies - in wireless, security and management, IP network availability and predictability, and high-speed data-center networking - that stand out as growth opportunities in a networking market which has matured overall. We have high expectations for all three of these companies."
Estrin will be chairman of both new companies.
Packet Design, Inc., will be headed by CEO Douglas Brent, who joined Packet Design, LLC, as chief operating officer in September 2002. Approximately 25 of the parent company's 41 employees will move to this spinoff, which has begun raising a new round of venture funding.
Eleven of Packet Design's employees will move to Precision I/O, Inc., which will be led by Estrin while a permanent CEO is sought. Packet Design, LLC, will provide seed funding while a business plan is being developed; outside funding will be raised later this year.
About Packet Design
Packet Design, LLC, was founded in May 2000 to develop technologies that enhance the performance, scalability and manageability of the Internet infrastructure for telecom carriers and enterprises. It is the fourth networking company started by husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Judy Estrin and Bill Carrico, who founded Bridge Communications in 1981, Network Computing Devices in 1988 and Precept Software in 1995. Estrin served as Cisco Systems' chief technology officer from 1998-2000, and Carrico as senior vice president of Cisco's small and medium line of business. Estrin, who sits on the boards of directors of The Walt Disney Company, The Federal Express Corporation and Sun Microsystems, has been named three times to Fortune Magazine's list of the 50 most powerful women in American business. Packet Design has raised $29 million in private funding from Foundation Capital, Sun Microsystems and individual investors. For more information, visit http://www.packetdesign.com.
© 2005. Packet Design Inc.
