Native Networks Joins the Metro Ethernet Forum

Native Networks, a leading vendor of Metro Ethernet technology and solutions for optical access networks, announced today that it has joined the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) www.metroethernetforum.org. The mission of the MEF is to accelerate the adoption optical Ethernet in metro networks worldwide.

Native Networks Joins the Metro Ethernet Forum

MEF accelerating the adoption optical Ethernet in metro networks worldwide

LONDON -- 4th November 2002 -- Native Networks, a leading vendor of Metro Ethernet technology and solutions for optical access networks, announced today that it has joined the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) www.metroethernetforum.org. The mission of the MEF is to accelerate the adoption optical Ethernet in metro networks worldwide. Since its inception in June 2001, the Metro Ethernet Forum member companies have grown to include leading service providers, major incumbent local exchange carriers, top network equipment vendors and other prominent networking companies.

We felt it was important to be a member of the MEF, considering its broad based objective to promote the adoption of Metro Ethernet Services, based upon Optical Networks", said Gilad Goren Native Networks Founder and Chief Strategy Officer. He went on to add There is a massive installed base of SDH and SONET networks worldwide, these need to be migrated to support Ethernet Services, particularly considering the current economic climate in our industry. The support of the MEFs membership to a transport agnostic architecture, which includes the option to provide Ethernet transport over SDH or SONET is key to allowing this transition."

We are pleased to welcome new members such as Native Networks to the MEF. Their support and input to the various MEF technical and architecture documents will be valuable, particularly since they are a vendor focused on Europe and can validate that perspective within the MEF. Such broad support from a wide variety of equipment vendors and major service providers is enabling the MEF to build a true industry-wide consensus driving the adoption of optical Ethernet technology and services to the benefit of all parties" said Nan Chen, President of the MEF

The MEF aims to enhance worldwide awareness of the benefits of Metro Ethernet services and Ethernet metro transport networks. The MEF has built consensus which unites service providers, equipment vendors and end customers on Ethernet service definition, technical specifications and interoperability, in the following four areas: Protocol and Transport, Services, Architecture and Management. This will facilitate implementation of existing and new standards, Metro Ethernet service definition, test procedures and technical specifications to allow delivery of carrier-class Ethernet services.

About The Metro Ethernet Forum
Created to accelerate the adoption of optical Ethernet in metro networks worldwide, the Metro
Ethernet Forum consists of 66 member companies representing a range of leading Ethernet service
providers, major incumbent local exchange carriers, top network equipment vendors and other prominent networking companies. For more information about the Forum, visit the MEF web site at: www.MetroEthernetForum.org

About Native Networks
Native Networks innovative solutions enable carriers to offer differentiated Metro Ethernet services, more flexibly and efficiently over existing and planned infrastructure. These advanced carrier-class connectivity solutions, designed for deployment in "first-mile" metro access infrastructure, transport and aggregate Metro Ethernet packets alongside legacy circuits/TDM services in their Native" form over dark fibre, existing SDH/SONET infrastructure or DWDM, in a transition-friendly solution. They enable carriers and service providers to increase differentiation and profitability by delivering a service bundle, which includes advanced layer-2 Metro Ethernet services such as Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS). The technology is founded on an advanced, patent-pending multiplexing scheme and unique traffic management technology to provide optimal use of optical or SDH/SONET infrastructure with guaranteed QoS per customer and the ability to engineer to strict SLAs. Native Networks has developed a unique family of intelligent, data aware Metro Ethernet + SDH/SONET transport solutions: including Add/Drop statistical Multiplexers (ADsM), Dense Service Aggregation nodes and CPE/CLE access devices.

Founded in 1999, Native Networks is funded by several North American and European venture capital funds including Anschutz Investment Company, Apax Partners, Israel Seed Partners, Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), SkyPoint Capital Corporation, Alta Berkeley Venture Partners and Soros Private Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Maidenhead, UK and retains extensive research and development facilities in Petah Tikva, Israel.

Further information about Native Networks can be found at http://www.nativenetworks.com/

Press Contacts:
         
Colin Evans - colin.evans@nativenetworks.com   
Debbie Gispan - Deborah.Gispan@nativenetworks.com
   
Native Networks Ltd         
+44 (0)870 162 3003