Boehm Named to Top Sales and Marketing Post at Fujitsu Network Communications.

Business Editors

RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2000

Rodney Boehm, an executive with Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc., for 10 years and one of two men who helped conceive today's telephone network, has been named senior vice president of sales and marketing at Fujitsu.

Boehm, 44, was vice president of business management before being promoted to his new position by Akira Tokimasa, president and CEO of Fujitsu Network Communications. He succeeds George B. Chase, who is leaving Fujitsu to work with Hook Partners, a Dallas-based venture capital firm.

Boehm joined Fujitsu in 1989 as director of strategic planning. He previously worked for Bell Laboratories, Bellcore, and Rockwell International. At Bellcore, he and Yau Ching originated the SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) architecture, upon which almost all of today's North American telephone network is based. It is SONET that has made the telephone network so reliable today.

"Fujitsu has seen phenomenal growth in our sales revenues in the last few years," Boehm said. "I am excited about the opportunity to continue that growth and extend Fujitsu's innovative products into new markets. Rapid, high-speed communications are having a profound effect on our lives through the information available to us. We at Fujitsu are proud to be at the center of this change."

Fujitsu reached the billion dollar milestone in sales revenue in fiscal 1997, grew that by 29 percent in fiscal 1998, and anticipates at least 70 percent revenue growth in fiscal 1999, which ends March 31, 2000. The company is the leading provider of SONET equipment to local telephone companies, is a leader in the development of advanced optical networking technologies such as wave division multiplexing, and is a rising contender in the long-distance and competitive local exchange carrier equipment markets.

Boehm, who earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University, has been active in standards bodies as a result of his SONET development work. He chaired the T1X1 Technical Sub-Committee from 1990 through 1994 and was active in the committee from 1985 to 1990. At Fujitsu, he moved from director of strategic planning to director of transport product planning, and then into business management.

Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc., designs and manufactures fiber-optic transmission and broadband switching platforms, develops software that allows customers to perform in-service management and monitoring of the telephone network, and provides network design, installation, and maintenance services. Its customers include local exchange carriers, interexchange carriers, competitive access providers, and cable TV operators, as well as large private networks in North America. Fujitsu Network Communications is part of Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702), a $43.3 billion leading provider of comprehensive information technology and networking solutions for the global marketplace. Product information is available by calling 800/777-FAST. Its World Wide Web site is www.fnc.fujitsu.com.