Catena Networks Names Joseph B. Costello Chairman of its Board of Directors.

Business Editors

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2002

Costello, a Catena Board Member Since the Company's Inception,

Brings Key Leadership Experience From Role at Cadence Design Systems 

Catena Networks today announced that it has named Joseph B. Costello chairman of its board of directors.

Costello, currently chairman and CEO of think3, a young 3-D mechanical design software company, was an early investor in Catena and has been on its board since the company was founded in December 1998. He also played a pivotal role as president and CEO of Cadence Design Systems for more than a decade.

"We are very pleased that Joe is stepping up his involvement with the company and taking on this crucial role," said Bob Machlin, president and CEO of Catena Networks. "Joe's experience at growing and successfully running a major corporation, such as Cadence Design Systems, is extremely valuable to Catena."

According to Costello, "Catena has demonstrated its ability to develop and deliver truly innovative broadband access systems that will enable carriers to turn broadband DSL into a profitable, volume service. As carriers begin to deploy these systems, I look forward to helping guide the company through its next stage of growth and helping establish it as a major supplier in the broadband access market."

Under Costello's direction, Cadence Design Systems became the world's leading supplier of electronic design automation (EDA) software and services. In 1997, Cadence reached the $1 billion mark in revenue, which placed it among the top 10 highest-grossing software vendors in the world.

In that same year, Chief Executive Magazine named Costello the top performing CEO of all publicly traded companies in North America. He also made Upside Magazine's 1997 "Elite 100" list of the top executives leading the digital revolution.

Before joining Cadence Design Systems, Costello was president and COO at SDA Systems, one of the two companies that merged in 1988 to form Cadence. Previously, he was president of Electronic Speech Systems and an R&D manager at National Semiconductor.

In addition to serving as Catena's chairman, Costello serves as chairman of Zamba (NASDAQ: ZMBA), NextNet, Barcelona Design, BravoBrava! and Reality Fusion - and on the boards of Saba and Simplex Solutions (NASDAQ: SPLX).

Costello replaces Jim Hjartarson, who had served as Catena's chairman since December 1998, when he co-founded the company. Hjartarson will continue as a director, executive vice president of engineering and chief technical officer.

"Jim has made a tremendous contribution to Catena over the past three years," Machlin said. "He has helped grow the company to more than 300 employees, recruit a seasoned executive team, secure $192 million in venture capital, and deliver the core technology and products that will change the playing field in the broadband access market. I look forward to Jim's continued contribution."

Catena's highly-integrated broadband access systems - including the CNX-5 Broadband DSL System and the CN1000 Broadband Loop Carrier - will enable service providers to accelerate deployment of broadband DSL services and converge their separate voice and data access networks.

The CNX-5 Broadband DSL System is a card-for-card upgrade solution for Lucent SLC-5 Digital Loop Carrier Systems that provides two lines of integrated POTS+DSL, replacing cards that provide two lines of POTS only. The CNX-5 gives carriers a simple, cost-effective and scalable way to broadband enable their installed base of SLC-5's, without reducing the number of available POTS lines.

The CN1000 Broadband Loop Carrier is a new class of access system designed for the emerging, packet-based public network. It provides POTS+DSL on every line, enables no-truck-roll remote provisioning and maintenance, and delivers packetized POTS and data traffic to converged networks. The CN1000 integrates the functions of a DSLAM, Digital Loop Carrier System and Media Gateway.

Catena Networks, Inc. builds innovative broadband access solutions that are designed to enable facilities-based telecommunications carriers to achieve mass-market deployment of plain old telephone service (POTS), and broadband digital subscriber line service (DSL), on a single access line, and to facilitate access network convergence. Headquartered in Redwood Shores, Calif., the company operates world-class research and development facilities in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and has more than 300 employees across North America. Founded in 1998, Catena is a privately held company that has secured U.S. $192 million in venture financing. For more information, please access www.catena.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These and all forward-looking statements are only predictions or statements of current plans that are constantly under review by the company. Such statements are qualified by important factors that may cause actual results to differ from those contemplated, including changes in industry conditions, rapid changes in technology, and actions of our competitors. The company has no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of future events or circumstances.

Catena, Catena Networks, and the Catena Networks logo are trademarks of Catena Networks, Inc. All other trademarks or service marks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.