Almeric Networks Appoints Bryan Hopkins Vice President of Worldwide Sales; Proven Executive Will Drive Market Rollout of New Xpress Product Line and Expand Channel Relationships.

Business/Technology Editors

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2002

Almeric Networks, a leading global provider of network management solutions to the medium-size enterprise, has named Bryan Hopkins vice president of worldwide sales. The appointment of this former Salience Associates sales executive underscores Almeric Networks' commitment to aggressively rollout its new Xpress (TM) network management product and further foster strong channel relationships amongst the reseller community.

Hopkins has more than 17 years of sales and senior management experience for networking, software and communications companies including Salience Associates, Network Access Solutions, Winstar Communications, Sprint and GTE. As a member of the senior management team at both Network Access Solutions and Winstar, Mr. Hopkins was instrumental in helping each company rapidly achieve multimillion-dollar revenue growth. In his most recent position he was vice president of sales and business development for Salience Associates, a leading professional sales outsourcing company in the telecom, energy, health care and technology markets, providing the leadership that doubled the size and established the company in new key vertical markets.

Hopkins will oversee a two-pronged sales strategy for Almeric Networks, including branded product sales of its Xpress product through a network of channel partners as well as a direct sales model focused on underserved medium-sized enterprises. Almeric Networks' Xpress is the first network management software to offer use of XML, instant messaging with presence and advanced graphics utilities. Through a combination of these technologies, Almeric is able to provide "out-of-the-box" network management software designed to address the management needs of the fully distributed enterprise.

"Bryan Hopkins is a key addition to our senior management team," said Bruce Rusch, Almeric Networks' president and CEO. "His overall leadership capabilities and expertise in enterprise account development and management, direct sales, and channel creation and reseller agreements will help accelerate the traction of Almeric Xpress. Bryan has hit the ground running and already begun to smoothly transition our efforts to increase direct and channel sales to the medium-sized enterprise marketplace."

"I am very excited to be joining Almeric Networks at this time," Mr. Hopkins stated. "This is a company that already has a proven track record in the satellite industry and carrier market and is now poised for tremendous growth in a new market segment. The Xpress product is the next evolution in network management and delivers a exceedingly compelling ROI proposition for customers."

Hopkins received a BS in Marketing/Management from Plymouth (NH) State College and will be headquartered in Almeric's East Coast offices in North Andover, Massachusetts.

About Almeric Networks

Almeric Networks' mission is to create and deliver cost effective, high performance and easy to use network management solutions to the medium-sized enterprise marketplace and satellite communications industry. Based in North Andover, Massachusetts, Almeric is a privately held company that has raised venture funding from Egan Managed Capital and Inflection Point Ventures. For more information, visit Almeric Networks on the Web at http://www.almeric.com.