Actelis Networks Raises $26 Million in Series C; High-Speed Transport Provider Receives Funding From Carlyle Venture Partners and Existing Investors.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2001

Actelis Networks, the first company to boost copper performance to fiber-quality speed and reliability, raised $26 million in its third round of funding, led by Carlyle Venture Partners. Earlier Actelis investors, New Enterprise Associates, U.S. Venture Partners, Walden International, Global Catalyst Partners, and Vertex Management were all repeat investors in the series C round.

Anand Gowda, a principal with Carlyle Venture Partners who will join the Actelis Board of Directors, stated, "We believe that Actelis' technology will enable service providers to leverage their current infrastructure, and will be essential not only in today's environment but also over the 5-10 year horizon."

Bob Grady, managing director of Carlyle Venture Partners and global head of venture capital at The Carlyle Group, said, "Actelis will use its breakthrough technology to bring fiber-quality performance to the existing copper infrastructure. We think this is a big idea with big implications for carriers and their ability to deliver a new generation of services at lower costs."

"Our world-class investors and the talented team at Actelis enabled us to close the funding as planned. The success of our funding is a reflection of our execution to date and the opportunity in front of us," said Yuval Baron, president and CEO of Actelis Networks.

With more than a dozen U.S. patents pending, the Actelis high-speed transport platform allows carriers to offer first-day deployment of fiber-quality services on a broad scale. By boosting the speed, range, and reliability of copper pairs, carriers can offer affordable, same day provisioning of ultra high-speed services to virtually any copper-fed remote terminal cabinet or business.

Actelis Networks is led by a first-rate executive team with an acclaimed track record in telecommunications. The executive team came from notable telecom companies such as Fujitsu, ADC, Nortel Networks, Comverse Technology, and 3Com. Actelis recently appointed Marty Kaplan, chairman of the board of JDS Uniphase (Nasdaq:JDSU) to its Board of Directors. The Actelis chairman is Kamran Elahian, co-founder of Actelis, Centillium, Cirrus Logic, and founder of Global Catalyst Partners.

About Actelis Networks

Actelis Networks is the first company to radically boost the speed, range, and reliability of copper to achieve fiber performance and quality in the local loop. By the decade's end, over 10 million businesses in the U.S. will not be fiber-fed. Actelis Networks will bring the fiber era to these small to medium-sized businesses. Actelis is pioneering a new generation of broadband transport that enables local carriers and service providers to rapidly deliver high-speed, high-value services over existing copper assets. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in the Silicon Valley, Actelis Networks is backed by preeminent telecom investors, including Carlyle Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, U.S. Venture Partners, and The Walden International Investment Group (early investors in Juniper Networks, Sun Microsystems, and Ascend Communications). For more information please visit the Actelis corporate Web site at www.actelis.com.

About Carlyle Venture Partners

Carlyle Venture Partners is a venture capital fund focused on early stage investments in communications and Internet-related infrastructure and applications. Carlyle Venture Partners is affiliated with The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm with over $13 billion under management, and over 400 employees in 22 offices in 14 countries around the world. Carlyle Venture Partners has offices in San Francisco; Reston, Va.; and Washington, D.C. Carlyle's venture group also operates venture funds in Europe, Asia, and Japan. Additional information on The Carlyle Group can be found at www.thecarlylegroup.com.