America's Network Announces 2001 Hot Startups.

Business Editors

SANTA ANA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 2001

America's Network magazine today announced in its April 15 issue the selection of nine companies in its annual pick of "Hot Startups," North America's most innovative and promising new telecom and network service providers.

Those companies are:

-- Mountain View, Calif.-based AZI (Autonomous Zone Industries), whose
peer-to-peer file sharing service has the potential to become the replacement
of choice for 50 million disenfranchised Napster subscribers.

-- San Jose, Calif.-based Calient Networks, developer of photonic switches that
can handle 40 Gigabits.

-- Fairfax, Va.-based Cambrian, a bandwidth wholesaler and upstart challenger
to Verizon, targeting underserved markets along the Eastern seaboard.

-- St. Louis-based Core Express, an ISP whose unique peering solution ties its
compensation of other ISPs directly to their network performance.

-- Boston-based Ixpanse, a colocation company that acts as a one-stop point of
contact for ASPs, ISPs and others wanting connectivity to multiple networks.

-- Minneapolis-based NextNet, a wireless broadband technology company employing
OFDM to offer subscriber units that function indoors without clear lines of
sight to the nearest base station.

-- Sydney, Australia-based Redfern Photonics, a startup with $12 million in
venture capital, a joint venture agreement with Chinese Fasten Phonics, and the
goal of becoming one of the world's top four developers of photonic solutions
and equipment.

-- Princeton, N.J.-based Valaran, a software vendor with a unique middleware
platform that enables its customers to integrate not just its OSS systems, but
also its business processes across those systems.

-- Allen, Texas-based Xtera, whose eXpander technology enables cost-conscious
carriers to stretch bandwidth on existing fiber without deploying new network
elements.

More details about these nine "Hot Startup" companies appear in the April 15 issue of America's Network. The selected companies will be honored in a reception on June 6 at the SUPERCOMM 2001 tradeshow in Atlanta.

According to America's Network Editor-in-Chief Joan Engebretson, the editorial staff chose the "Hot Startups" for their innovation, promising business models, strong leadership and overall likelihood of success even in bumpy market conditions.

"America's Network wants to show that entrepreneurship is alive and well in the network service provider segment despite the current market slump," said Engebretson. "These startup companies demonstrate that if you have a great idea and a great team, it's no more difficult to launch a company or get funding now than it was a year ago," she added.

Published 18 times annually, America's Network magazine helps telecom executives convert technology into profit-generating products and services. Its controlled circulation of 58,483 reaches the complete range of network service providers. America's Network also offers two supplements, 3G:america and Competitive Carrier. America's Network online content and Web marketing opportunities are available from Hive4telecom.com. For more information, visit www.AmericasNetwork.com or call 800/854-3112.

America's Network is produced and managed by Advanstar Technology Communities, which produces 33 events, 32 publications, and 50 Web sites and two B2B Web portals. These properties address the full range of technology applications -- from content creation through communications to customers and builders of e-commerce throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit www.AdvanstarTech.com.

Advanstar Technology Communities is a division of Advanstar Communications Inc., a worldwide business information company serving specialized markets with high-quality information resources and integrated marketing solutions. Advanstar has 106 top business and professional publications, 108 exhibitions and conferences, 79 Web sites, and a wide range of direct marketing, database and reference products and services. Advanstar serves targeted market sectors in such industries as telecommunications, CRM/call center, e-commerce, retail, travel, hospitality, beauty, fashion, health care, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and processing. The company has more than 1,400 employees and currently operates from multiple offices in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. For more information on Advanstar Communications, visit www.advanstar.com.