PacketFront receives Series A Financing from European Equity Partners

PacketFront receives Series A Financing from European Equity Partners PacketFront Sweden AB, a start-up company in Stockholm, Sweden, developing a purpose-built totally integrated solution for the evolving metro-access Ethernet Broadband Networks ("EBNs"), announced today that it has received series A financing from London-based venture capital firm European Equity Partners (EEP). The EBN market is in an early evolutionary stage but is foreseen to grow rapidly in the next five years. There are an increasing number of Fiber To The Home (FTTH) projects around the world and no products available that has been designed specifically for this market. "Ethernet broadband operators have been forced to use Enterprise LAN switches from the traditional LAN vendors and have had great problems because the special requirements of using Ethernet in a residential operator environment were not addressed when these products were designed", says Martin Thunman, CEO of PacketFront. "PacketFront will be first on the market with a total solution that addresses all the challenges of EBNs including full multi-operator support. As a result, we have already generated significant interest from potential customers." PacketFront was founded in 2001 by a team of Ethernet Broadband pioneers. The founders have previously held positions at leading-edge companies such as Cisco Systems, Bredbandsbolaget (B2), Sweden's pioneering IP-based broadband operator, Tele2, Netcom and Ericsson. "It is a great team with a unique understanding of the market requirements who have developed a technical platform to address the issues that EBN operators run into. We have gone one step further than a traditional network equipment vendor and have built an integrated solution that will minimize the cost for the operators while also giving them increased revenue opportunities. The team, our sophisticated solution and the positive feedback from initial customers gives us extremely good chances of meeting and exceeding our targets", says Stefan Lindeberg, Chairman of the Board of PacketFront and formerly with Cisco Systems. PacketFront's products are low in cost and offer high service flexibility. The first products to be delivered by PacketFront will be a solution consisting of three different product families; a series of Access Switching Routers (ASR) with fiber or copper (RJ 45) interfaces, that will be the access node in an EBN; an Ethernet Broadband Control System (BECSTM) that will control all users, services, network elements, configurations and operators; a series of cost efficient home switches with full functionality to support TV, Video and phone services. "The ASRs have full routing performance, QoS and Multicast support and L2-L7 filtering capabilities at the same cost of a traditional Layer 2 switch. The BECSTM platform takes, together with the ASRs, care of security, user tracking, mass deployment, service provisioning, IP address management and gives the network operators the ability to let other operators offer services over the networks", says Niclas Sonesson, CTO of PacketFront. "We share PacketFront's vision that true broadband can only be achieved with Fiber To The Home (or building) and that this market will enjoy significant growth across the whole world over the next 5 years, with Sweden, Europe and Asia being the most interesting early markets. The strong home market in Sweden, will give PacketFront a good foundation to expand from internationally", says Hans Blomberg, Swedish founder EEP. For more information, please contact: info@packetfront.com Martin Thunman, CEO PacketFront: martin.thunman@packetfront.com Henrik Björkk, Marcom co-ordinator: henrik.bjorkk@packetfront.com +46 8 694 84 84 PacketFront Sweden AB is a start-up company in Stockholm, Sweden, which will develop, manufacture and market a purpose built integrated solution for Ethernet Broadband Networks. PacketFront was founded by a team of Ethernet Broadband pioneers. The founders combine a unique set of complementary skills including comprehensive know-how of the challenges of EBNs, software development skills, technical support and sales and marketing experience to form a strong company core. The founders have previously held positions at leading-edge companies such as Cisco Systems, Bredbandsbolaget (B2), Tele2, Netcom and Ericsson. Web site: www.packetfront.com EEP is a E53 million fund targeting first round investments in Nordic technology and growth companies. EEP provides capital and active hands- on management support to enable entrepreneurial companies to achieve their development plans and international presence. EEP's investment team brings the experience of seasoned management professionals with both operational and investment skills. Investors in the EEP fund include Swiss fund-of-funds Partners Group, institutional investors from Denmark, Germany, France, Sweden and a range of high profile family investors from Europe and the US. Web site: www.eeplp.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/11/20011011BIT00430/bit0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/11/20011011BIT00430/bit0001.pdf