Erstwhile WaveSmithies feel blue

August 22, 2005

2 Min Read
Rumor du Jour...

7:00 PM -- This just in:

Red Panda hears on the grapeleaf that some former execs from WaveSmith have allegedly formed a new venture, called Blue Note Networks. Or, possibly, Blue Note Systems. Who knows? For that matter, who cares? (Hey, does anybody really know what time it is?)

Blue Note Whatever, of course, is not to be confused with the record label, the book publisher, the Web services provider, any of the seven million jazz clubs, the orchestra, the Sri Lankan hotel, the Oscar-nominated Pluto cartoon, or the micro-tonally lowered third, seventh, or fifth degree of the diatonic scale.

Nice branding job, fellas.

Anyway, among the WaveSmithys allegedly involved are John Burnham, former VP of marketing and allegedly the tannest man in telecom, and Tom "Allegedly" Burkhardt, former WaveSmith CEO (allegedly).

Not John Burnham
Not John Burnham, even allegedly

More from the "allegedly file": Word has it that el mondo mutual fund outfit Fidelity Investments had its own, internal enterprise networking requirement (something to do with needing a fancypants security solution, mebbe?) and turned to its VC arm, Fidelity Ventures, for help. (Stay with us, here – it gets better. Well, sort of.)

So Fidelity Ventures, which funded WaveSmith, turned around and used the spec as the basis of the business plan for Blue Note. Et voila! A Blue Note was born... or, um, sounded.

Ok, so it's not that interesting, but posting this will really annoy the Blue Noters, so why not?

Anyone out there in telecom-land know anything about this deal? ('Cause Red Panda obviously doesn't.) Feel free to post a message on the boards below. Best intel wins, um, something lying around our little panda crib. If history is any guide, it's probably a t-shirt.

— Red Panda, Meanspirited Rumormonger, Light Reading

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