Appian Communications Announces $60 Million in Third-Round Funding; Top-Tier Networking Funds and Investment Banking Firms Invest in Leading Optical Service Edge Vendor.

    Business/Technology Editors

      BOXBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 18, 2000--Appian
Communications, the first to deliver the optical service edge
solutions required to open optical networks to new packet service
revenues, today announced that it has received $60 million in
third-round funding, bringing total financing to over $80 million
since the company was formed in March 1999. Led by Tudor Investment
Corporation and Technology Venture Partners, new investors also
included Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc., Anschutz Investment
Company and Essex Investment Management Co., LLC.
      Also participating in the round were investment arms of investment
banking firms Chase H & Q (NYSE: CMB), Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs
(NYSE: GS), JP Morgan & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Robertson Stephens, Inc., and
Thomas Weisel Partners. Initial round investors who also participated
in this round include North Bridge Venture Partners, Matrix Partners
and Venrock Associates.
      This strategic round of funding will support the growth in
Appian's business operations, including the expansion of product
delivery programs, domestic and international expansion, and sales,
service and customer marketing of Appian's award winning Optical
Services Activation Platform(TM) (OSAP(TM)) and AppianVista(TM)
Services and Element Manager product line. The Appian solution
leverages the cost, performance and simplicity of Ethernet to enable
the migration to high growth packet services over today's optical
network infrastructure. By bringing packet service efficiency and
intelligence to the existing, widely deployed SONET/SDH transport
infrastructure, Appian is allowing service providers to readily deploy
highly resilient, next- generation packet services with significant
time to service and lower capital cost advantages.
      "Appian is uniquely positioned to capitalize on an optical edge
market that is projected to globally reach $20B over the next four
years," said Rick Ganong, Partner, Tudor Ventures Group. "This veteran
management team is executing to plan, with multiple customer trials
that include existing and emerging carriers already well underway.
We're extremely excited to be working with this winning team."
      "The growth in packet, largely Internet-driven, data has created
the opportunity for a new generation of flexible and scalable Ethernet
services that position carriers to strategically grow their revenue
base while leveraging the new found capacity deployed at the optical
core," added Ajay Diwan, Vice President of Investment Research,
Goldman Sachs. "Appian's solution is uniquely positioned to enable the
migration from legacy voice and private line services to next
generation Ethernet services over today's highly resilient SONET/SDH
infrastructure, enabling carriers to quickly capture this growing
revenue opportunity."
      "The strength of this new round is a testament to Appian's
business opportunity, our unique market position, and the strength of
our team," said Mick Scully, Founder and CEO. "The momentum of our
service trials is a strong validation of Appian's vision that
next-generation Ethernet services will fundamentally open the optical
network to new business revenues."

      About Tudor Ventures Group and Tudor Investment Corporation

      Tudor Ventures Group is the Boston-based venture capital arm of
Tudor Investment Corporation. The group serves as general partner for
Tudor Ventures II L.P., a venture capital fund which is involved in
mid to late-stage private investments in the U.S. and Canada with an
emphasis on the communications, software, Internet-infrastructure,
information technology services and new media sectors. Tudor
Investment Corporation, a firm of 250 employees, manages approximately
$5.2 billion in ten client funds. The firm's corporate headquarters is
in Greenwich, Connecticut, with a significant U.S. equity operation in
Boston and additional trading offices in the London area and Tokyo.

      About Technology Venture Partners

      Technology Venture Partners, L.P. (TVP) is an early to mid-stage
venture capital fund focused on networking, communications, and
Internet infrastructure. TVP provides industry experience, combined
with expertise and relationships in the networking and communications
area. TVP's strategy is to deliver value added insight, knowledge and
commitment to its portfolio companies through its extensive network of
technology executives, advisors and consultants.

      About Appian Communications

      Appian Communications is the first to deliver the optical service
edge solution service providers require to offer next generation,
soft-tunable Ethernet services over today's existing network
infrastructure. Appian's award-winning OSAP and AppianVista Service
and Element Manager allow providers to replace their previously rigid,
circuit-optimized first mile with a service- intelligent solution that
delivers packet-service flexibility and scale through a simple
Ethernet "plug in the wall." Time to market is assured with the
ability to deploy these services across today's widely installed and
highly resilient SONET/SDH and DWDM infrastructures. Appian is a
high-momentum company that has been recognized at SUPERCOMM 2000's
SUPERQuest Awards, was named a "Red Hot Startup" by America's Network,
and was named one of Telecommunications Magazine's "Hot Startups to
Watch in 2000." Its management, development and delivery teams have
helped drive the market leadership of respected telecom systems
developers such as Lucent (NASDAQ: LU), Nortel (NYSE: NT) and Cisco
Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO).

    [pilcrow (paragraph sign)]   Appian Communications, the Appian
Communications logo, Optical
Services Activation Platform, OSAP, AppianVista and Optical Data
Protection are trademarks and Intelligent Optical Edge is a service
mark of Appian Communications, Inc.

    --30--ba/bos*

    CONTACT: Appian Communications             Pelorus Communications
             Linda Pugliano                    Maureen MacGregor
             978-206-7244                      978.779.8969
             [e-mail]           [e-mail]

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