Alidian Networks Opens Technical Assistance Center in Florida; 30-Year Telecom Industry Veteran Lee Evans Named to Head New Facility.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 2000

Alidian Networks, developer of optical networking products for metropolitan-area networks (MANs), has opened a Technical Assistance Center in Clearwater, Fla., and named 30-year telecommunications industry veteran Lee Evans director of technical services. Evans reports to Owen Frances, Alidian's vice president of worldwide sales and support.

The 2,000-square-foot center will house laboratory and test equipment designed to help Alidian's carrier customers install, configure and maintain the company's Optical Service Network (OSN) products, which allow heterogeneous data and voice services to be transported efficiently across metro networks. The center is expected to have a staff of 8-10 people by the end of 2000.

The Technical Assistance Center is Alidian's second expansion effort outside its San Jose headquarters, following the recent opening of a research-and-development facility in Norcross, Ga.

Barton Shigemura, Alidian president and CEO, said, "Basing our first technical support facility in the Tampa area gives us a site with an appealing lifestyle and reasonable cost of living, in a central location with ready access to our East Coast, West Coast and European customers. We also gain access to a labor force from both the industry and university environments that is highly skilled in supporting global service providers -- expertise that will be critical as Alidian continues to expand its customer base worldwide. Lee's experience in working with large telecom companies -- establishing call centers, technical assistance and technical training programs -- makes him an ideal fit for this position."

Shigemura said Alidian expects to open additional Technical Assistance Centers in Europe and Asia during the next year.

Evans comes to Alidian from Zhone Technologies, which in December 1999 had acquired Premisys Communications, where he served as manager of technical support. He had spent the previous 26 years with AT&T, holding technical support positions with the Paradyne division, the data communications product group, and the operating companies New York Telephone and New Jersey Bell. Evans, 53, is a resident of Tarpon Springs, Fla.

Alidian's Technical Assistance Center is located at 2641 McCormick Drive, Suite 103, Clearwater, Fla. 33759, 727/724-5000.

Formed in August 1998, Alidian has developed the Optical Service Network (OSN) family, which combines electronics and photonics to permit comprehensive service delivery, breadth and awareness within a single highly scalable architecture for the dynamic metropolitan-area network (MAN) environment. Able to augment the legacy SONET ADM infrastructure yet offer service providers increased efficiency and cost savings as capacity grows and new services are deployed, OSN devices can be deployed in a variety of physical and logical topologies.

For more information, call 408/273-4700 or visit the Alidian Networks web site at www.alidian.com.