Telrad Networks To Fund Start-Up

TEL AVIV--Firebit.net, the new startup owned by Telrad Networks, was officially revealed yesterday for the first time at a press conference in Tel Aviv.

Telrad Networks, a 50 year old Israeli leader in telephony systems production and integration, has invested the sum of five million dollars in Firebit.net - an almost unprecedented sum to invest in a start-up at the seed stage.

Eldad Gefen, CEO of Firebit.net, said that Firebit.net will develop a service platform for broadband suppliers in the field of Internet and telephony in the future Internet age.

Reuven Avi-Tal, CEO of Telrad Networks, said that "Firebit.net is the first company from the Telrad Networks start-up incubator. The company's products will be synergetic with Telrad's activities and will represent a service platform for commercial activities on the rapid Internet of the future."

With regard to the technological and marketing direction of Firebit.net products, Gefen said: "The large number of Internet accessories and applications planned for the future, in addition to those already existing today, will provide a business opportunity for suppliers but will overload the communication lines and increase the need for professional support staff. The greater the number of applications, the greater the need for Firebit.net products which, in fact, will save on the need for professional personnel who are in perennially short supply. These products are systems for communications carriers and service providers, which are critical and highly reliable systems that must not fail (carrier grade). In this area we will receive assistance from Telrad, which has considerable experience in the development of such systems known to operate at high frequencies."

Gefen noted that "The uniqueness of Firebit.net as a start-up lies in its opening figures, which increase the chances of success: Telrad's considerable financial investment, the existing technological infrastructure that the company can exploit through access to the technology of Telrad Networks, its contacts with Nortel Networks and its access to world markets."

According to Gefen, "The Firebit.net products will be built by making use of hardware and software elements that are at the forefront of technology.

http://www.telrad.com