CIRQUE ETHERNET SWITCHING FINDS SUCCESS IN NORTH CAROLINA.

Cirque Networks, Inc. who developed the Sherpa Series of Fast and Gigabit Ethernet Switches in 1998, has maintained and grown their place as a technology hardware company in North Carolina.

"We have always believed that our team could grow this company outside of Boston or San Jose" said Loren Charnley, president and CEO of Cirque Networks "and I don't know of any spot in those markets where I could rent space for $4.00 a square foot."

The team includes two ex-Bostonians Loren Charnley and his wife (chief operating officer) Amy Charnley who founded the company with Raleigh, North Carolina friend and associate Kevin Hoff (chief information officer).

Loren Charnley has over nine years of program management and engineering experience, most recently with the Texas Instruments Boston Design Center. He has worked with customer programs valued in the millions of dollars, including the largest and most complex chip design to date at the Center. He has worked on the design of numerous integrated circuit programs with Xerox, Quantum, U.S. Robotics (now 3Com) and InterDigital Communications. Loren also worked closely with the Business Development process at Texas Instruments. He has a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of North Carolina.

Amy Charnley, just prior to the development of Cirque Networks, worked in Boston with the Membership Accounting Department of Secure Horizons, the Senior Medicare Risk Division of Tufts Health Plan. Her responsibilities there included project and employee management. She graduated, with honors, from Boston University and holds a Masters in Business Administration, with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Studies.

Kevin Hoff is a published geologist, who studied at N.C. State. He began his career studying Radon Hazards. He left his geology background to focus on his Information Technology expertise and spent the last 6 years before founding Cirque Networks with the Great Outdoor Provision Company, a multi store retailer, based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

As their director of Management Information Systems, Kevin led the implementation of the company's fully integrated accounting and purchasing system. Kevin has also led numerous outdoor team-building programs.

When asked about the availability of talent for their workforce, Hoff said, "As the industry has learned about our startup in Charlotte, North Carolina, we have received hundreds of resumes from people who want to work in a high tech company but would like to enjoy the many benefits of a southern lifestyle at the same time."

"The quality of the labor force in Charlotte is so high, finding workers has not been a problem for us," he continued.

In addition to the Charnleys and Hoff, Cirque has also added to their Engineering and Design department with the addition of Robert Mullis, Director of Engineering, formerly from Siemens, and Kevin Weber, director of North American Sales, who comes to them from Compaq Computers. Cirque Networks, through direct employees, consultants, and partnerships, can field a staff of over 30.

Cirque Networks targets small to mid sized companies and resellers who need expanded network technology.

For more information, call 704/841-4100.