Xtera Raises $30M, Gets CEO and CFOXtera Raises $30M, Gets CEO and CFO

Xtera closes $30M funding round; appoints Jon R. Hopper as President and CEO, and Paul Colan as CFO

March 1, 2004

2 Min Read

ALLEN, Texas -- Xtera announced today that Jon R. Hopper has joined the company as President and Chief Executive Officer and Paul Colan has joined as Chief Financial Officer. Jon W. Bayless will continue to play a key role as company Chairman while resuming duties as a General Partner at Sevin Rosen Funds. Xtera also today announced that it has closed a $30M funding round that will be used to deepen the global commercial presence of the company's optical networking transport solutions.

As Xtera moves from an emphasis on development to the commercialization of its products, Xtera is transitioning from a venture-led organization to a CEO-led entity. Hopper brings 18 years of experience managing global high tech equipment and systems providers. He was formerly Chief Executive Officer at Extreme Devices, Inc., IRSI, and Dynamotion. He also served as a Senior Vice President at Photon Dynamics and as a Group Vice President at Electro Scientific Industries. Colan has worked with Hopper as CFO at IRSI and Extreme Devices, and Director Finance at Photon Dynamics.

"Jon's history of successful execution is critical as the company enters a new chapter of commercial deployment on a global basis," said Bayless.

Adding Hopper to the team will enable Xtera to extend its global business activity and the availability of its products significantly. Fulfilling on longstanding business objectives, the shift allows Xtera to take advantage of real customer opportunities around the world. To that end, Xtera is building a global support organization to address global customer needs. The plan calls for growing some domestic divisions of the company as well as hiring sales/marketing, application engineering, and technical support resources in target countries.

"I am excited to join Xtera at this key inflection point for the company," said Hopper. "Xtera has done a great job putting together a world class engineering team and delivered, what I believe, is the best-in-class product for the long haul DWDM space. It's now my job to translate that into global commercial success. Jon Bayless will play a critical role as my chief advisor throughout this process. His insight, experience, and reputation will be invaluable to me as we grow Xtera."

Xtera Communications Inc.

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