ANAHEIM, Calif. -- OFC2001 -- The founders of
Point Reyes Networks Inc. have resurfaced with a newly focused version of the startup that went bellyup last month (see
Shutdowns Send Dark Message).
Light Reading located the new company in a booth designated for Point Reyes at the OFC show this week. Originally, Point Reyes had planned to attend and made some appointments with editors but called to cancel them prior to the show.
Renamed Cemip Networks (no Web site yet), the new company plans an official launch in April. It has taken over the resources and technology that belonged to Point Reyes and opened shop in the San Jose, Calif., offices that formerly served as one of the two locations for Point Reyes (the other, in Texas, has been shut down).
Cemip Networks also has taken on about 30 of the defunct firm's 65-odd employees. The present management team is loath to discuss specifics, but they do say they've sought and received new angel investment and are on the road to getting VC funding.
Despite all it's taken from the original company, Cemip Networks is revising the business plan. "We've reorganized and refocused the company," says Bob Wachel, now the CEO.
Originally, the company was planning a large-scale switch equipped with multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) to enable carriers to quickly provision IP services. But Cemip's founders say the plan was overly grandiose.
"We had a grand architecture planned, but we found that carriers really wanted a focused solution that would meet their immediate needs," says Barry Burnett, Cemip's VP of sales. "We've gone from a shot gun to a rifle shot approach."
While the new company will continue to focus on IP service provisioning in optical networks, it will do so with an eye to executing products and getting them out the door. "We're taking what we developed originally and making a very particular product for a specific carrier segment," asserts Mihir Mohanty, VP of marketing and co-founder of Cemip.
-- Mary Jander, senior editor,
Light Reading http://www.lightreading.com
