Comstellar Launches With Innovative Business Model and Premier Management Team.Business Editors/High Tech Writers LOS ALTOS Los Altos (lôs ăl`tōs, lŏs), residential city (1990 pop. 26,303), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1952. There is diversified light manufacturing. , Calif. & FLORHAM PARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 2000 Architects of Tomorrow's Communication Technologies A group of the leading names in the communications industry communications industry, broadly defined, the business of conveying information. Although communication by means of symbols and gestures dates to the beginning of human history, the term generally refers to mass communications. today announced the launch of Comstellar Technologies, Inc., the premier organization for architecting innovative technology companies that will drive the next generation of communications. Comstellar will establish and operate a group of independent communications infrastructure companies, the first of which will be announced over the next several weeks. Companies in this initial group are involved in developing communications technologies that include components to enhance wireless communications wireless communications System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data. , optical switching systems Switching systems (communications) The assemblies of switching and control devices provided so that any station in a communications system may be connected as desired with any other station. and fundamentally new ways to process digital signals. Redwood Venture Partners also will become a part of the new company, providing startups with a more conventional venture-financing alternative. Redwood VP will continue to operate a separate venture fund and, like the parent corporation, will focus on entrepreneurs developing new technologies in communications. "Comstellar is built on a unique business model," Comstellar's CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , Sanjiv Ahuja Sanjiv Ahuja is a member of France Telecom's Group Management Committee, and Chairman of Orange SA. Sanjiv Ahuja joined Orange SA in April 2003 as Chief Operating Officer and since March 2004 was Executive Vice President of France Telecom's Personal Communication Services, and , explained. "It is based on the belief that if you combine the agility of a startup with the resources of a large organization, you can launch and build new companies at an accelerated pace and with a higher success rate." Comstellar's senior management team includes a group of highly successful and proven entrepreneurs and senior executives in the communications industry. In addition to Ahuja, who is the former President and Chief Operating Officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. of Telcordia Technologies Telcordia Technologies, formerly Bell Communications Research, Inc. or Bellcore, is a telecommunications research and development (R&D) company based in the United States and created on January 1 1984 as part of the 1982 Modification of Final Judgment that broke up , the team consists of Raj Parekh as Chief Technology Officer and Chairman of the Board; Raj Singh as President; Jack Skydel as Vice President, Business Development; and Paul Kothari as Chief Financial Officer. Before joining Telecordia in 1994 (then Bell Communications Research, commonly known as Bellcore), Ahuja held a series of increasingly responsible positions at IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : IBM) in software development, design and marketing. Among other accomplishments, he directed IBM's entry into the distributed systems Distributed systems (computers) A distributed system consists of a collection of autonomous computers linked by a computer network and equipped with distributed system software. management and telecommunications management marketplaces. He serves on the Board of Directors for several companies, including Network Appliances, Danet and Tecsi, and is a founding member of the Editorial Advisory Board of America's Network magazine. Parekh was Vice President of Engineering and Chief Technology Officer with Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA[3]) is an American vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information-technology services, founded on 24 February 1982. (Nasdaq: SUNW SUNW Sun Microsystems, Inc (former stock symbol; now JAVA) SUNW Stanford University Network Workstation (Sun Microsystems, Inc) ), as well as General Manager of Java Products for Sun microelectronics. Earlier, he was a Vice President and General Manager with Silicon Graphics (NYSE: SGI (SGI, Sunnyvale, CA, www.sgi.com) A manufacturer of workstations and servers, founded in 1982 by Jim Clark. The company was founded as Silicon Graphics, Inc., but changed to its acronym in 1999. ). He is a Managing Partner of Redwood VP, and Chairman of the Board at Campio Communications, Niksun, G-Tran and other emerging companies. Singh was a founder of StratumOne Communications and Fiberlane. Fiberlane later split into two companies, Cerent and Siara Systems. Both StratumOne and Cerent were acquired by Cisco Systems “Cisco” redirects here. For other uses, see Cisco (disambiguation). Cisco System,Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO, HKSE: 4333 ) is an American multinational corporation with 54,000 employees and annual revenue of US $28.48 billion as of 2006. (Nasdaq: CSCO CSCO Cisco Systems Incorporated (stock symbol) CSCO Chief Supply Chain Officer ), while Siara was acquired by Redback Networks Redback Networks is a telecommunications equipment company. History Redback Networks was founded in August, 1996. Redback is an ERICSSON subsidiary since the beginning of 2007 (was previously traded on NASDAQ under the symbol RBAK). (Nasdaq:RBAK RBAK Redback Networks Inc. (stock abbreviation, AMEX) rBAK Remote Backup ), in separate deals totaling more than $11 billion. He is the founder of Redwood VP, and sits on a number of Boards, including everypath.com, Switch On Networks, RealChip and Roshnee. Skydel was Managing Director of Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) Global Technology Group, focusing on the communications and electronics sectors. He is a former VP-Financing with American Express (NYSE: AXP The brand name Digital gave to its first family of Alpha-based computers. In 1998, Digital was acquired by Compaq. See Alpha. ), where he had responsibility for financing, foreign exchange management and overall capital planning. Kothari was most recently CFO See Chief Financial Officer. of TheStreet.com (Nasdaq: TSCM TSCM technical surveillance countermeasures (US DoD) TSCM Tactical Strike Coordination Manager TSCM Tactical Strike Coordination Module TSCM Temperature Scram Circuit Monitor TSCM Tomahawk Strike Coordination Module ), guiding that company through its successful initial public offering and secondary offering in Europe. Previously, he served as CFO of International Telecommunication Data Systems, now a subsidiary of Amdocs Limited (NYSE: DOX DOX Design of Experiments DOX Direct Operational Exchange ), and before that was Vice President of Finance at Bellcore. "If you were to dream up an ideal team, this is the team you would assemble," Ahuja said. "There has never been a team of proven executives in the communications industry like this one. It is a stellar team by design, not by happenstance hap·pen·stance n. A chance circumstance: "Marriage loomed only as an outgrowth of happenstance; you met a person" Bruce Weber. ." The communications infrastructure industry is being propelled by the Internet and the related worldwide explosion in bandwidth demand. To meet this demand, communications carriers worldwide are scrambling to deploy new technologies and new equipment. Comstellar's companies will directly address the industry's infrastructure needs. Comstellar will focus on developing core "disruptive" technologies that dramatically improve the capabilities of the communications network. It will provide experienced interim management from the earliest stages for its group of companies, and assist in establishing industry and customer contacts. As companies mature, it will recruit permanent proven executive teams. "In a very short period we will use our new business model to build Comstellar into one of the world's leading technology companies. This is a company and business model that already has generated great excitement among technology entrepreneurs. The strength of our investment group demonstrates the reception we have received," Ahuja said. Comstellar, with headquarters in New Jersey and California, has raised more than $140 million in investment capital, led by Accel Partners and New Enterprise Associates. Other investors include Clarity Partners, First Analysis Venture Capital, Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Ventures, Lehman Brothers, Mayfield Fund, Oak Investment Partners, and Soros Private Equity Partners. Investment partners comment on Comstellar Technologies "Between new technologies, new demands, new applications, increasing competition, deregulation Deregulation The reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Notes: Traditional areas that have been deregulated are the telephone and airline industries. , internationalization The support for monetary values, time and date for countries around the world. It also embraces the use of native characters and symbols in the different alphabets. See localization, i18n, Unicode and IDN. internationalization - internationalisation , the Internet explosion ... disruption has become a way of life in the communications industry. Comstellar Technologies is the first company that's really focused on understanding disruption and profiting from it. Their mission is to map the deep forces that are driving change in the industry, to locate the most promising new ideas about how things can be made better, and to supply the talent and resources needed to bring those ideas to market in a practical form in the shortest possible time. This innovative initiative should have a major impact on the way new ideas are brought to life in the communications industry." - James Swartz General Partner Accel Partners "The strength of the new business model being pioneered by Comstellar is its clear focus on providing value-added services to assist entrepreneurs. In addition to providing capital, they offer creative technologists a way to be free to innovate and build their businesses, without any of the usual distractions that can slow this process, by offloading the operational needs and resource requirements of a successful business onto the expert management team at Comstellar. For CTOs that don't want to be CEOs, let alone COOs, CFOs, or CMOs, this is a real blessing and can only accelerate the pace at which new ideas reach marketable form." - Mark Perry General Partner New Enterprise Associates "Clarity has been partners with Redwood VP for some time and we know and admire Raj Parekh and Raj Singh. We believe with the addition of Sanjiv Ahuja, the newly chartered Comstellar Technologies is at the leading edge of the communications industry, actively helping to grow innovative companies. Because of our own ongoing investments in communications technologies, we believe that the combination of operating expertise available within Clarity Partners and Comstellar produces genuine synergy and creates a dynamic investment partnership." - R. Rudolph Reinfrank Managing General Partner Clarity Partners "The creation of Comstellar Technologies addresses one of the major pressure points in the communications industry, namely, the need for genuine depth. Not just technical depth, but depth in the marketplace itself. Comstellar is a group of exceptionally talented people all focused on an exceptional space, full of opportunities. It can provide member companies with access to a great network of contacts, as well as the best channels, and the most appropriate partnering opportunities. Investing in Comstellar was an easy decision to make." - Bret Maxwell Managing General Partner First Analysis Venture Capital "Given the highly competitive environment within the communications industry, increasingly, the key differentiator between firms will be management experience and excellence. Comstellar has put together just such a management team: a team that can mobilize the resources necessary to bring products to market and drive member companies to success." - Robin Neustein Managing Director Goldman,Sachs & Co. "Comstellar Technologies is distinguished by an exceptionally strong management team. The founders have a proven record of leadership and expertise in the communications industry at companies like Telcordia, IBM, Sun, StratumOne, Cerent, Siara-- the list goes on. They inspire confidence that Comstellar will be a premier generator of new and innovative communications technologies for years to come." - Sanjay Jain Vice President J.P. Morgan "Comstellar Technologies represented a unique opportunity to back a group of experienced managers with deep expertise in a complicated space that's undergoing explosive growth. We're confident that Comstellar will be highly successful in their mission to develop leading-edge communications companies that efficiently bring important new technologies to market." - Mike Odrich Head of Venture Capital Lehman Brothers "Sanjiv Ahuja, Raj Singh and Raj Parekh are proven executives and entrepreneurs who already have had a profound impact on the communications industry. Mayfield Fund is excited to be Comstellar's partner in rethinking what startups need to be successful. The Comstellar team has the vision, wealth of experience, and a network of relationships that will enable new ideas to be transformed rapidly into products. They complement our own leadership in this space." -Todd Brooks General Partner Mayfield Fund "Comstellar provides an environment where new ideas about all types of communication access, transmission, and switching technologies can be nurtured, and those with current promise can get both the skilled management and financial backing needed to quickly drive them to realization. I'm delighted that Sanjiv Ahuja, former Telcordia president, has taken on the challenge of building this new type of "accelerator" company. We served together on the Board of Tellium, and I can say from experience that no more energetic or effective CEO could be found for this enterprise." - Ed Glassmeyer General Partner Oak Investment Partners "We're very excited about Comstellar Technologies. Essentially, it's the combination of an incredible team with a very innovative idea. You couldn't assemble a better group to foster technical innovation in the communications equipment space. Moreover, the vision they've developed of the way the network is going to evolve, and how to go about meeting the needs of the future, is first class, too. Put this team together with that idea, and you've created an exceptional platform for launching new ventures in communications technology." - -Sender Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. Partner Soros Private Equity Partners |
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