TeraNex Names World-Class Business Development Team.

Business Editors

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 3, 2000

TeraNex Inc., a provider of premier streaming media and video format conversion and compression solutions, has appointed a veteran business development team to grow the company into a worldwide industry leader.

Heading the team is Vice President of Worldwide Business Development Jim Riola, who will identify, develop and implement strategic business relationships for the company around the globe.

Riola brings to TeraNex more than 20 years of Silicon Valley experience building new business initiatives valued at nearly $1 billion through establishing strategic partnerships, licensing proprietary technology, marketing outreach and more. Riola will report to TeraNex President/CEO Mike Baron.

Another executive addition to the team is Director of Business Development Pierre Lesperance, who has extensive experience in developing and marketing video and postproduction technologies and in communicating complex information to clients and associates. Lesperance is joined by Business Development Manager Elke Suess, who has a strong background in customer relations, sales and marketing in the broadcast arena. Lesperance and Suess report to Riola.

"To obtain a leadership position in today's new economy, it is essential to partner with synergistic companies and to maximize investment in R&D through ancillary markets," said TeraNex President/CEO Mike Baron. "With our top flight business development team we'll be able to do just that.

"Jim has played a central role in new business ventures at some of the most forward-thinking technology companies of our time," Baron said. "With his ability to quickly access the big picture and manage controlled growth, he has the tools to take our company to the next level."

"TeraNex has the core technologies and systems in place to set us apart from the competition," Riola said. "By building strong alliances, we'll be able to establish the TeraNex solution as the business-to-business solution for broadband media distribution."

Riola will create a blueprint to grow TeraNex by capitalizing on the company's patented technologies, products and services. He will work with Baron and engineering and sales executives to identify synergistic businesses mainly in the broadband marketplace, and investigate ancillary markets for licensing and sales agreements. Teaming with Lesperance, Riola will establish strategic partnerships with best-of-breed companies. Under Riola's management, Lesperance and Suess will maintain and develop these relationships as well as market TeraNex's products and services directly to clients.

Jim Riola Brings Three Decades Experience Developing Leading Edge Businesses

Riola comes to TeraNex from San Jose-based semiconductor leader Infineon Technologies (formerly Siemens Microelectronics), where he served as Director of Business Development since 1998. There, he grew the company by more than $800 million by identifying and developing new business opportunities for its HD semi-conductor technologies. Riola initiated the design of 14 DVD-Video Player and DVD-ROM products within nine months, producing revenues of more than $175 million.

Riola began his career as a Business Development Manager at Xerox Corporation in 1969, before joining Apple Computers in 1987, first as a Manager of Supply Base Management and then as a Manager of Business Development.

He joined Sun Microsystems in 1995 as Senior Manager of Business Development, where he played a key role in launching the Java client/server technologies to computer corporations worldwide. Riola left Sun for Lockheed Martin Company division Formtek, Inc. in 1997, where as Channel Director, he explored alternative markets for the company's engineering drawing archival systems.

Pierre Lesperance and Elke Suess Bring Strong Broadcast, PostProduction and Video Expertise.

Pierre Lesperance joins TeraNex as Director of Business Development from Sony Electronics Corporation, where he was National Product Marketing Manager beginning 1997. There, he applied his background in electrical engineering to marketing the corporation's video tape recorders to broadcast and post production houses and to overseeing the technical education of the company's sales force and product managers. Lesperance guided his clients through the challenging transition to digital and high definition television and was pivotal in establishing Sony's Betacam SX format as the broadcast standard.

Lesperance joined Sony as Product Manager in 1990, after serving as Operations System Analyst at Arts & Entertainment Network for one year. In 1995, he was promoted to Product Marketing Manager with the responsibility of determining new product specifications and introducing a revolutionary new digital effects switcher that quickly became a standard in the video market.

Before joining TeraNex as Business Development Manger, Elke Suess served as Account Manager at Digital Video Systems (DVS) from 1995 to 1999. At DVS, Suess sold complex audio-video and multi-media systems to entertainment companies, corporations and universities. She was responsible for integrating these systems, working with engineers on design, managing installation, training clients and more. Suess began her career in 1985 in hospitality industry sales and marketing.

Founded in 1998 and headed by President/CEO Mike Baron, TeraNex Inc. is a provider of premium film and video conversion, compression and encoding tools and services, powered by patented software and hardware. In addition to providing turnkey solutions for streaming content to the Internet, the company manufactures the Xantus line of film and video format converters and the Starfront line of pre-compression processors. TeraNex's clients include the entertainment, advertising and telecommunications industries; corporations; educational institutions and the government. The company is headquartered in Orlando and maintains sales offices in Los Angeles; New York; Philadelphia; Atlanta; and Sydney, Australia. For more information, visit http://www.teranex.com.