Astral Point Closes $80 Million Third Round Financing, Raising Additional $40 Million from 'Strategic Partners'.

Business/Technology Editors

CHELMSFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 18, 2000

Optical Networking Firm's Funding Now Totals $113 Million

Optical networking provider Astral Point Communications, Inc. said today it has received an additional $40 million from a series of strategic partner investors to conclude its $80 million third round of financing. This last round brings to $113 million the total amount of venture funding received by Astral Point during the past two years.

The "strategic partners" financing effort was initiated by Astral Point as part of its third round of funding, which included an initial $40 million announced in June this year. The goal of the strategic partners financing is to establish relationships with suppliers, users, carriers and financial entities that are shaping the future of optical networking.

Strategic partner investors in the third round included KMC Investment Partners, a provider of broadband networking services; E-TEK Dynamics, a leading provider of optical networking components; and GE Capital, one of the world's largest financial services firms. Other new investors in the third round included Bowman Capital and Essex Investment Management. The Sprout Group, New Enterprise Associates and OneLiberty Ventures, previous investors, also participated.

"Financial participation and recognition from industry leaders in the carrier, component supplier and equipment financing communities acknowledge the strength of the Astral Point product family and endorse our leadership role in the optical networking space," said Raj Shanmugaraj, founder, president and CEO of Astral Point Communications.

"Forging key partnerships within the supply-and-demand chains is critical to success in today's optical marketplace. For example, components are in high demand and supplies are tight. Carriers face enormous equipment deployment costs that alternative financing approaches can facilitate. Customers require closer relationships than ever with vendors of the new generation products. Their interests and ours are served by these partnerships," Mr. Shanmugaraj explained.

Astral Point is developing a new generation of optical access systems that expedites the provisioning of very high-speed metropolitan area networks used to carry voice, data, video and other telecommunications traffic.

Astral Point obtained a $1 million seed round of funding in November 1998, its first round of venture funding for $7.5 million in February 1999 and its second round for $24.5 million in September 1999, in addition to the just-concluded $80 million third round.

About Astral Point

Privately held Astral Point Communications, of Chelmsford, MA, is pioneering the development of optical networking equipment for the metropolitan carrier market. The company has patented a number of technologies used in its new generation of optical access systems. Astral Point's first product, the ON 5000 Optical Services Node, uses the patented "Self-Healing Mesh" algorithm, which helps carriers overcome barriers to fast, easy provisioning in metropolitan areas by enabling first-ever SONET-quality protection and restoration capability in mesh networks. Astral Point's management system, ONset, incorporates an industry-first software "wizard" that uses a knowledge-based rule set. ONset enables service providers to add hundreds of circuits in minutes instead of months, and is so easy to use, even non-technical personnel can successfully provision circuits. Additional information can be found on the Astral Point web site at www.astralpoint.com