Executive Suite: New Start-Up Positioned to Address Integrated Data/Voice over Cable - Broadband Access Systems Inc - Company Operations

EDGE, On & About AT&T, March 22, 1999

Broadband Access Systems, Inc. Tuesday announced that it has rounded out its management team with the appointment of two key executives who will help the company meet the growing needs of cable operators to deploy integrated voice and data solutions. With its unique vision, Broadband Access Systems is the only company in the industry focused on standards-based, integrated access solutions for cable applications.

Broadband Access Systems, headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, has appointed Pirjo Tuomi to the role of vice president of Sales, and Christopher Grobicki to the role of senior director of engineering. These two key individuals - both formerly of Nortel Networks - join a highly experienced management team that includes top executives from Lucent, FORE Systems, Digital Equipment Corporation, and 3Com. In addition, David Clark, Ph.D., senior research scientist at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science and an expert on the Internet, has accepted a seat on Broadband Access Systems' Technical Advisory Board, where he joins other experts, including leaders in the cable industry and noted industry analysts. "At this stage of our growth, it is imperative that we execute on our vision with the right team conducting the right activities at the right time," said Abbot Gilman, Broadband Access Systems' founder and chief operating officer. "Broadband Access Systems has built a world-class team - including Pirjo and Chris - and a key set of technical advisors - including David - to meet the market requirements for integrated data and voice over cable solutions." New Executives Bring Years of Experience Tuomi joins Broadband Access Systems from Nortel Networks where she was most recently vice president of sales responsible for the cable market, including sales to cable operators and integrators, such as TCI, Cox, MediaOne and @Home. Earlier in her career, Tuomi held various sales roles at ICL Data, Inc. (a Fujitsu Group of Companies) in Helsinki, Finland, Nokia Data, Inc. and Finnish Telecom. Tuomi holds an MBA from Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.), a Bachelor of Economics from Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration (Finland), and both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Helsinki (Finland). Grobicki was most recently director of product management for Nortel Networks' Broadband Networks Division. Earlier in his career, Grobicki held various engineering roles at industry leading start-ups, including LANcity Corporation, where he was vice president of engineering, Racal Interlan, where he was director of hardware engineering, and Applitek Corporation, where he was director of hardware engineering. Grobicki holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and also completed graduate studies in Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Meeting the Needs of the Cable Industry "The market opportunity for cable operators offering voice and data services is staggering," said Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Network Architects, Inc. "Without a scalable, carrier-class head-end platform, specifically designed to deploy these services, the window of opportunity may be significantly impacted or completely lost. Broadband Access Systems has the strategy and the product development expertise to offer cable operators the opportunity to move beyond the "kludge" systems they are using today, and to help them successfully deliver an exciting new generation of data, voice, and video services to a very large and eager consumer and small business customer base." Broadband Access Systems recognizes the need for high-performance, carrier-class, scalable and integrated broadband access systems to maximize revenue potential for cable operators. Broadband Access Systems' next-generation cable access platform will enable service providers to successfully deliver data, voice, and video services to very high numbers of subscribers. To that end, the company has taken a leadership role in the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS), PacketCable, and IEEE standards initiatives to ensure that its cable access platform is compliant with the emerging standards and is interoperable with the wide spectrum of cable modems, telephony client devices, and operations support systems (OSS). "Today's solutions for data over cable have filled an immediate need," said Terry Wright, founder and chief technical officer of Convergence.com. "However, as we move into an era of wide spread deployment of data - and particularly voice - an integrated, scalable, carrier-class solution, based on standards, will be important for ease of deployment, ease of service provisioning, and ease of management." Founded in February 1998, Broadband Access Systems, Inc. is a leading developer of a new generation of highly integrated carrier-class broadband access systems that allow cable operators to deliver high quality voice, data and video services to large numbers of users. Headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, the company is funded by Matrix Partners, North Bridge Ventures Partners and The Still River Fund. FMI: www.basystems.com.