Atlantic Technology Ventures, Inc., Signs Option Agreement With The University Of Rochester For A Superconducting Optical Modulator.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2001

Company Adds Critical Component to its New CryoComm Program

Atlantic Technology Ventures, Inc., (Nasdaq: ATLC) announced the signing of an option agreement to exclusively license a new invention entitled "Magneto-Optical Modulator for Superconducting Digital Output Interface" from the University of Rochester.

The new technology was invented by Dr. Roman Sobolewski, a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University, to provide a digital optical output interface for ultrafast superconducting electronic circuits. The invention uses a little-known class of magneto-optic materials to modulate light at very low temperatures using a magnetic field. This work, which was supported by the Office of Naval Research, was first presented by Dr. Sobolewski, Qitao Xie and Jung-Rae Park at the Applied Superconductivity Conference in September 2000 and has been accepted for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity in June 2001.

"This Agreement secures a critical component from a valuable team member," commented Walter Glomb, Vice President of Atlantic. "The picosecond response times in the magneto-optic materials being investigated by Dr. Sobolewski have the potential for terabit speeds in our optical switching system.

Commenting on the agreement, Fredric Zotos, President and CEO of Atlantic added, "Collaborating with Dr. Sobolewski is quite an honor given his reputation as a respected authority in superconducting electro-optics."

Atlantic intends to apply the technology in its recently announced CryoComm(TM) program. With this new program, Atlantic is developing and investing in superconducting electronics technologies for high-speed, long-haul fiber-optic telecommunications that promise significant improvement over the current state-of-the-art for terabit fiber-optic packet switching and transport. Initial product designs of terabit packet switching and transport products hold out the promise of five times improvement in bandwidth utilization (Terabits per TerHertz), value (Terabits per dollar), size (Terabits per cubic meter), and power consumption (Terabits per Watt). Capital expenditures on long-haul fiber -optic equipment to support the Internet driven, unprecedented growth in the telecommunications equipment business are now $14 billion annually and growing at 60% per year.

Dr. Sobolewski has almost 20 years of experience in the physics of superconductivity and superconducting electronics. He has authored over 170 publications and is a reviewer for the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Air Force Office for Scientific Research, the International Science Foundation and for a number of scholarly journals in his field. His accomplishments include pioneering studies of the dynamics of the intermediate state in nonequilibrium superconductors, the first electro-optic measurements of the switching process in a Josephson tunnel junction and extensive picosecond characterizations of normal and superconducting transmission lines. Dr. Sobolewski's current research involves ultrafast superconducting optoelectronics and new device concepts based on integrated optical and solid-state technologies.

The University of Rochester has a long and illustrious history in superconductivity reaching back to the 1960's, and the faculty now includes one of the largest concentrations of experts in superconducting electronics to be found in any university. The University's research in superconducting electronics has covered a wide range of projects on superconducting and other cryoelectronic devices including digital circuits, SQUIDs, rf detection and generation, optical detection, non-equilibrium effects, LTS and HTS film and junction fabrication, novel devices and circuits. Facilities, both hardware and software, and the experience in developing and using these facilities are well established. Close ties exist to numerous research teams in industry, universities, and national laboratories.

About Atlantic Technology Ventures

Atlantic Technology Ventures, Inc. is a publicly held venture capital company specializing in early-stage, breakthrough technologies and rapidly incubating these through a definitive proof-of-principle. Atlantic currently has investments in: Catarex, a device for cataract removal; CT-3, a synthetic derivative of marijuana for treating pain and inflammation; and superconducting electronics for telecommunications.

Safe Harbor Statement

Cautionary statement under the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that relate to future scientific, business and financial performance. These statements are only predictions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual events or results to differ from those discussed or implied in these statements. These risks and uncertainties include competition from other manufacturers of related technologies, the unavailability of any necessary intellectual property rights possessed by third parties, and certain of those risks described in Atlantic's most recent report on Form 10-KSB with the Securities and Exchange Commission.