Telco Local Loop Test Equipment Provider Ellipsys... Technologies Receives $3.2 Million in Financing; Company to be Headed by Kenneth Tingley as President and CEO.

SOQUEL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 7, 1996--Soquel-based Ellipsys...Technologies, Inc., a company supplying a new generation of test systems for the telecommunications industry, has received $3.2 million in venture funding from Aspen Ventures, Vanguard Venture Partners and Equity Venture Management.

Ellipsys' test systems analyze faults in the telephone local loop (the wiring connecting phones to the central office). According to Ellipsys, local loop maintenance costs telephone companies over $10 billion a year, and a growing share of this is attributable to soft and intermittent errors.

The company is headed by Kenneth Tingley, president and CEO. Formerly president and CEO of Tau-tron, a leading maker of telecom test equipment, Tingley was also group executive, Telecom, for Tau-tron's parent company, General Signal Corporation.

Prior to that, he headed Northern Telecom's Test Equipment Division for nine years, ran Schlumberger's Euro Marketing Division in France for four years, and held several marketing positions at Hewlett-Packard during his eight years there.

Walton P. Haines, principal founder of Ellipsys, serves as senior vice president, chief technical officer and a director. During his 27-year career with Pacific Bell, Haines held various management and engineering positions, where he was primarily responsible for switching maintenance and implementing newer digital and electronic technologies, and state-of-the-art test equipment and procedures. His expertise in the fields of trouble analysis and signaling protocols are the basis for the products currently under development at Ellipsys.

"With this financing, we are able to further the development of a comprehensive range of options to complement our proprietary local loop testing technology, as well as expand our marketing efforts," said Tingley. "We are also delighted to have attracted a stellar technical team to exploit co-founder Walt Haines' in-depth knowledge of analog call-progress protocol and network maintenance issues."

"As a by-product of our development efforts, this team has documented and codified the analog protocol that has grown over the years to support special calling services," according to Tingley. "Having a formal protocol for this important function will be a significant step for the industry in establishing test methods for and diagnosis of the local loop. Also a formal protocol provides a foundation for future extensions."

"Ellipsys brings an exciting new approach to testing the telco local loop," noted Thad Whalen, partner, Aspen Ventures. "The combination of Ellipsys' technology, a strong management team and extensive telephone company operational experience, enables Ellipsys to deliver exceptional local-loop test capability not currently available to the telecommunications industry."

Ellipsys...Technologies, Inc. designs, manufactures and markets a line of high quality, easy-to-use, intelligent systems for the local loop.

For more information, contact Ellipsys...Technologies, Inc., at 2645 Park Ave., Soquel, CA 95073-2818. Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] Email: [e-mail]

CONTACT: Ellipsys...Technologies, Inc.

Kenneth Tingley, 408/464-5777

[e-mail]

or

Agora Marketing International, Inc.

Ron or Maxine Bingham, 408/777-8436

[e-mail]