Exhibit 99.1
CONTACT:
Press Inquiries Investor Inquiries
Rich Williams Terry Adams
Sycamore Networks Sycamore Networks
978-250-2909 978-250-3410
[email protected] [email protected]
SYCAMORE NETWORKS TO ACQUIRE SIROCCO SYSTEMS
ACQUISITION BROADENS SYCAMORE'S REACH INTO EMERGING METRO ACCESS MARKET
CHELMSFORD, Mass., June 6, 2000 -- Sycamore Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCMR), a
leader in intelligent optical networking, today announced a definitive
agreement to acquire privately-held Sirocco Systems, Inc. based in
Wallingford, Connecticut. Sirocco develops and markets optical access
aggregation, switching and network management products targeted for the
metropolitan access market.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sycamore common stock will be
exchanged for all outstanding shares of Sirocco and Sycamore will assume
the outstanding options of Sirocco. Based upon the closing price of
Sycamore's common stock on June 5, 2000, the deal is valued at
approximately $2.9 billion. This transaction will be accounted for as a
pooling of interests and is expected to be completed in the first quarter
of Sycamore's fiscal year 2001. The acquisition has been approved by the
Board of Directors of each company and is subject to various closing
conditions, including clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust
Improvement Act and approval by the shareholders of Sirocco. A sufficient
number of Sirocco shareholders have signed voting agreements to ensure the
required approval for the transaction.
"Intelligent optical networking technology is rapidly being deployed
throughout every segment of the public network from access to backbone, to
address network scaling issues and data service requirements created by the
tremendous growth in data traffic," said Dan Smith, Sycamore's president
and CEO. "Sirocco's portfolio of next generation optical networking
products will enable Sycamore to serve the unique service needs of the
emerging metro access market and to expand and extend the reach of the
intelligent optical network by providing an economical, high performance
"on-ramp" to the intelligent optical core."
According to Pioneer Consulting , the Global Optical Networks Edge
market which includes next-generation SONET, metro DWDM, converged metro
optical platforms, and metro optical IP systems is expected to grow to
$17.3 billion by 2004.
Sirocco will provide Sycamore with a comprehensive portfolio of
multi-service optical networking products for the metro access market.
Complementing Sycamore's existing product line of transport, switching and
management products, the Sirocco product suite will extend the range and
reach of services supported by the intelligent optical network. With this
combined product line service providers will be able to leverage the power
of the intelligent optical core to deliver a broad range of services
including: ATM, TDM, IP, DS3/E3 through OC-192/STM-64 and Gigabit Ethernet.
Sirocco's recently announced products include Zephyr, an optical access
device, Typhoon, an optical edge switch, and Tempest, an optical network
management system. First products from Sirocco are expected to be available
in the fourth calendar quarter of 2000.
Jonathan Reeves, president & CEO of Sirocco will assume the role of
vice president and general manager of Sycamore's newly created Optical
Access Division, reporting directly to Dan Smith, Sycamore's president and
CEO. In addition, all Sirocco employees will become employees of Sycamore.
"This is a natural move for Sirocco, both companies share a common
focus on putting intelligent optical networking technology to work to
develop, provision and manage new high performance services," said Jonathan
Reeves, President and CEO of Sirocco, " and, like Sycamore, we have also
taken a software-centric approach to developing our products combining
industry innovations in hard-optics with our own unique soft-optics
technologies. Combined we will be able to bring point-and-click
provisioning to all segments of the intelligent optical network quickly --
access to core."
ABOUT SIROCCO
Sirocco is an optical networking company focused on delivering third
generation solutions to service providers that allow them to derive new and
enhanced services from their optical core networks. Sirocco solutions
introduce a suite of new networking platforms that offer multi-service,
multi-wavelength switching functionality, coupled with innovative service
provisioning and management tools, which unleash the power of the optical
core. Founded in January 1999, the company is located in Wallingford,
Connecticut. For more information, please visit Sirocco's web site at
www.siroccosystems.com. The information on this website is not incorporated
into this press release.
ABOUT SYCAMORE
Sycamore develops and markets intelligent optical networking products
that transport voice and data traffic over wavelengths of light. The
Company combines significant experience in data networking with expertise
in optics to develop intelligent optical networking solutions for network
service providers. Sycamore's products are based on a common software
foundation, enabling concentration on the delivery of services and
end-to-end optical networking. Sycamore's products and product plans
include optical transport, access and switching systems and end-to-end
optical network management solutions. Contact Sycamore at
www.sycamorenet.com. The information on this website is not incorporated
into this press release.
###
Investors are urged to read documents relevant to the acquisition described
in this announcement that are filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission because they contain relevant information about the acquisition.
You can obtain the relevant documents that are filed with the Commission
for free on the Securities & Exchange Commission's website at
http://www.sec.gov or from Sycamore.
Except for the historical information contained herein, we wish to caution
you that certain matters, including statements about the value of the
agreement, discussed in this news release constitute forward-looking
statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual
results could differ materially from those stated or implied in
forward-looking statements due to the a number of factors, including risks
associated with the transaction, such as difficulties in the assimilation
of operations, technologies and products of Sirocco, diversion of
management's attention from other business concerns, risks of entering new
markets and those risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading `Risk
Factors' contained in the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1
(file no. 333-30630) and the other reports filed by the Company from time
to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward looking
statements include statements regarding the Company's expectations,
beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be
identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe,"
"could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may, "should," "will," and
"would" or similar words. The Company assumes no obligations to update the
information included in this press release.
