John Muleta Joins PacketHop Advisory Board; Former FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief Broadens Company's Industry Expertise

Business Wire, April 25, 2005

BELMONT, Calif. -- PacketHop(TM), Inc., a leader in mobile mesh networking software for instant wireless group communications, today announced that John Muleta, most recently chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has joined the company's advisory board. PacketHop is assembling an advisory board of industry experts with a broad range of expertise across many industries and disciplines. Mr. Muleta is currently a partner at Venable LLP and Co-Chair of its Communications Practice Group in Washington, D.C.

"John brings considerable expertise at all levels of the wireless communications industry, and we are thrilled to welcome him to our advisory board," said Michael Howse, president and chief executive officer of PacketHop. "John's time at the FCC was marked by dramatic progress in the wireless broadband market. It was also during his tenure that the FCC created guidelines for operations in the 4.9 GHz public safety band that will ensure 802.11 technology is utilized and that first responders will reap the benefits and innovation of non-proprietary, commercial off-the-shelf solutions."

Conventional broadband wireless networking is dependent on access points and network-based servers which often intrinsically force customers to undergo costly, time-consuming infrastructure deployments and, in some cases, to purchase proprietary hardware. PacketHop shifts the paradigm by making infrastructure completely optional. The company's software and applications easily load onto virtually any standards-based laptop, tablet or PDA -- enabling every device to send, receive and route data and to immediately form a mobile mesh broadband network which can operate with or without wireless access points. By creating autonomous mobile mesh networks, PacketHop delivers coverage wherever and whenever users congregate and need instant wireless broadband communications.

"I fully support PacketHop's open standards approach to creating mesh networks which are truly mobile and autonomous," said John Muleta. "PacketHop's software liberates users from being tethered to access points, getting locked in to expensive and lengthy infrastructure deployments and needing to buy proprietary hardware. Public safety is the first of many markets to benefit from PacketHop's highly secure, rapidly deployable and cost-effective solutions."

Using PacketHop's mobile mesh networking software, first responders at a remote incident area devoid of access points can instantly generate and share mission-critical information such as real-time video, resource tracking, instant messages and whiteboarded action plans via PacketHop's autonomous mobile mesh networks and applications.

Prior to his most recent appointment at the FCC, Muleta was the president and chief executive officer of Source 1 Technologies LLC, a privately held systems integration firm based in Washington, D.C. He was also a co-founder of OI Systems Inc., a Washington-based management consulting firm. Muleta worked at PSINet, Inc. from 1998 to 2000, where he held the position of president for PSINet Ventures Inc. and, prior to that, was president of PSINet's Global Facilities Division and president of its India, Middle East and Africa Division.

From 1994 to 1998, Muleta served in a variety of positions at the FCC, including Deputy Bureau Chief in the Common Carrier Bureau and Chief of the Enforcement Division of that bureau. He began his career at GTE Corporation and later worked at Coopers & Lybrand Consulting, LLC, before joining the Commission in 1994.

Mr. Muleta received his B.S. in Systems Engineering at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 1986 and his MBA and J.D. from the University of Virginia's Joint Degree Program in 1993, where he received the Shermet Scholar Award for outstanding scholarship.

About PacketHop

PacketHop, Inc. develops mobile mesh networking software which enables instant wireless group communications for commercial enterprises, government organizations and consumer markets. The company's software enables 802.11 standards-based devices to create extended Wi-Fi hot-zones on the fly -- autonomous mobile mesh networks -- which can securely operate with or without wireless access points. By making infrastructure completely optional, PacketHop delivers coverage wherever and whenever instant wireless broadband communications are needed -- with greater resiliency, reliability and robustness than any other comparable technology. Along with the company's device agnostic mobile mesh networking solution that enables rapid and cost-effective deployments, PacketHop offers the Aware(TM) suite of multimedia applications including real-time multicast video, resource tracking, instant messaging and whiteboarding. Founded in 2003 and based in Silicon Valley, Calif., PacketHop is funded by venture firms U.S. Venture Partners, Mayfield, ComVentures, and SRI International. For more information on PacketHop, please visit www.packethop.com.