Press Releases

SALIRA OPTICAL NETWORKS SYSTEMS INC. SECURES $7 MILLION IN NEW FINANCING LED BY SOFINNOVA VENTURES AND HELLER FINANCIAL

Moves to New Headquarters to Accommodate Growth

Santa Clara, CA February 27, 2002
Salira Optical Network Systems, Inc., the first company to develop a carrier-class access architecture for Ethernet Passive Optical Networks (EPON), today announced that it has raised an additional $7 million in new equity and debt financing. The new funding closes a Series B round of $22.1 million and brings the total investment in Salira to $29.1 million. Sofinnova Ventures becomes the latest investor to participate in Salira's Series B round which was led by Mobius (formerly Softbank) Venture Capital. Pac Rim Venture Partners and Manitou Ventures also participated in the official closing of the round. Salira also disclosed that it has secured a $2 million revolving credit facility from Heller Financial, a division of GE Capital.

"Access in 'the last mile' is the final bottleneck that must be fixed by the carriers in order for universal broadband access to be achieved," said Eric Buatois, Principal of Sofinnova Ventures. "Salira's optical access systems leverage the power of Ethernet, making Salira a leading company serving both service provider and enterprise customers.

The new funding will be used to accelerate deployment of Salira's systems into trials and general availability. The credit facility from Heller Financial provides Salira with added flexibility in financing its operations. The revolving line of credit will be used to finance equipment and inventory, and to prepare for the production, assembly and shipping of systems in the second half of 2002.

"We are very encouraged by the investment community's continued validation of our technology and our approach to the market," said Herbert J. Martin, CEO of Salira. "This new funding will enable us to accelerate the deployment of systems that deliver access to affordable broadband services."

New Headquarters

Salira also announced that it has moved its headquarters from San Jose to a larger facility in Santa Clara, California to accommodate growth. The new facility has a comprehensive systems integration and test center for the manufacture and quality assurance of the company\'s access products. In addition to the test center, the engineering activity quadrupled its lab space in the move. The company has also moved its administrative, operations, marketing and sales activities to the company's new headquarters. Salira’s new facility is located at 5451 Patrick Henry Drive, Santa Clara, California 95054.

About Sofinnova Ventures
Based in San Francisco and founded in 1974, Sofinnova Ventures invests in early-stage internet, telecommunications and life-sciences startup companies. Sofinnova Ventures combines extensive venture-capital experience with deep technical, startup and operational management experience. More information is available at www.sofinnova.com.

About Heller Financial
Heller Financial is a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Capital, a division of General Electric. Heller's primary businesses are in commercial finance, equipment leasing and real estate. More information is available at www.hellerfinancial.com.

About Pac Rim Venture Partners
PacRim Venture Partners is a private venture capital fund that invests in early-stage information technology companies with investors from the United States, Taiwan and Hong Kong. More information is available at www.pacrimpartners.com.

About Manitou Ventures
Manitou Ventures is a venture capital partnership that focuses primarily on high growth technology sectors including communications, internet, new media, semiconductors and IT services. More information is available at www.manitouventures.com.

About Salira Optical Network Systems, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Salira builds broadband systems that are used to deliver advanced voice, video and data services to business and residential customers. Salira’s systems give carriers the ability to offer traditional TDM services and advanced IP-based broadband services in one integrated, cost-effective system. Salira Shanghai, Ltd., a subsidiary of Salira, performs manufacturing, R&D and customer support functions, and has responsibility for marketing and sales in the Asia Pacific region.

The Salira 2300 is the first multi-customer optical network unit capable of distributing services to multiple customers, unlike existing solutions that require a separate device for each customer. The Salira 2300 is modular in design and is configured with eight fixed 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet ports and two bays for modular plug-ins. One plug-in is configured with eight 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet ports, and another contains four T1/E1 ports. Therefore, the Salira 2300 can be configured to deliver 24 Fast Ethernet ports, or 16 Fast Ethernet ports and 4 T1/E1 ports, or 8 Fast Ethernet ports and 8 T1/E1 ports.

The Salira 2300 enables service providers to deliver uniquely-defined SLAs to individual customers at the port level based on pre-defined class of service parameters. This creates new revenue generating opportunities from differentiated services, and helps reduce churn by increasing customer satisfaction.

Salira Access Operating System v1.0

The Salira Access Operating System is the software engine that drives the Salira 2000 Platform, providing a consistent method of providing service. The Salira Access Operating System manages both TDM traffic in native mode, and packet-based IP traffic in multi-protocol modes. In the operating system, the Device Abstraction Layer (DAL) interfaces with device drivers, laser control and processors, while the Service Abstraction Layer (SAL) provides the tools needed to deliver a given service. Both the DAL and the SAL are modular, enabling the addition of new speeds, interfaces and services as required.

Salira Access Management v1.0

Salira Access Management is an innovative software suite that combines an Element Management System (EMS) with robust service creation and subscriber management capabilities in one unified system. This integrated system enables remote provisioning, monitoring, troubleshooting and network maintenance. In addition, Salira Access Management provides the ability to control key features like real time dynamic bandwidth allocation and per port SLAs. The Java-based system simplifies the management of the network, and provides complete fault identification, configuration, accounting, performance and security (FCAPS) tools. The system also supports service provider OSS access through CORBA, TL1 or SNMP interfaces.

Pricing and Availability

Salira is scheduling trials that will continue through the summer, with general availability occurring in the third quarter of 2002. Pricing for the Salira 2000 Platform ranges from $90,000 to $2 million for an IP/TDM combination system, and from $60,000 to $1.5 million for a pure IP system. Specific pricing is dependent on the exact configuration of the system.

Product Unveiling at SUPERCOMM 2002

Salira will unveil the Salira 2000 Platform for the first time at SUPERCOMM 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia from June 4-6 (booth #22416). Salira will demonstrate the platform's technical capabilities, like real time dynamic bandwidth allocation and native mode TDM services, in addition to the economic case that service providers can expect to derive from implementing the system.

About US Signal
US Signal is a full-service, fiber optic solutions provider, offering a wide range of telecommunications services to wholesale and enterprise customers throughout Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. The US Signal debt-free, fiber optic network is the largest, fully deployed network in the Midwest and offers 2,500 miles of lit fiber and 14 strategic metro rings. US Signal offers unlimited high-speed capacity, dark fiber and collocation services, and also works with customers to design and build new network construction projects. For more information visit www.ussignalcom.com.

About Salira Optical Network Systems, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Salira builds broadband systems that are used to deliver advanced voice, video and data services to business and residential customers. Salira’s systems give carriers the ability to offer traditional TDM services and advanced IP-based broadband services in one integrated, cost-effective system. Salira Shanghai, Ltd., a subsidiary of Salira, performs manufacturing, R&D and customer support functions, and has responsibility for marketing and sales in the Asia Pacific region.