October 13, 2000

New VPs for Sales and Operations to compliment already strong leadership group

Richardson, Texas, October 13, 2000 - Xtera Communications Inc. (www.xtera.com), the optical networking company that is creating groundbreaking technologies for long-haul and ultra-long-haul optical networks, today announced the hiring of Walter Foss of Vice President of Sales and Randy Schusseler as Vice Presedent of Operations.  With the addition of these two new executives, Xtera completes the assembly of an executive management team whose background is well tailored to solving the critical issues of bandwidth and distance in the all-optical network. 

Foss brings over 15 years of sales management experience in the data and telecommunications industries to Xtera. Before joining Xtera, he was with Monterey Networks, where he served as Vice President of Sales prior to its acquisition by Cisco Systems. While at Monterey, he established the company's sales team, which achieved significant success with both established and emerging long-haul carriers. Foss's background also includes tenures with Cisco, Motorola and Clearpoint Research Corporation.

Schussler comes to Xtera with extensive manufacturing experience in the high- tech sector. Most recently, he served at 3dfx/STB Systems, a high-volume printed circuit board assembly operation, where he was Vice President of Board Operations. His overall background, which includes work with Flextronics International, a leading manufacturer of electronic and electro- mechanical assemblies, covers a broad range of experience extending from project engineering to planner/buyer to marketing.

"The addition of Walter and Randy makes our executive management team even stronger," said Jon Bayless, Xtera CEO. "With their background, expertise and vision, they'll play an integral role in ensuring that Xtera is able to help equipment manufacturers speed their time to market and serve the needs of telecommunications carriers."

With the addition of Foss and Schussler, Xtera is well positioned to execute their strategic plan to deliver leading-edge products in the field of long-haul fiber-optics communication, potentially doubling the capacity of long-haul sections of high-speed networks. Both Foss and Schussler are characteristic of the seasoned management team that leads Xtera. The backgrounds of the management staff give Xtera profound insight into the needs of the telecom equipment manufacturers. Before taking the helm at Xtera, CEO Jon Bayless served as a partner with Sevin Rosen Funds where he focused on developing business opportunities in telecommunications infrastructure and services created by the transition to photonics. CTO and Founder Mohammed Islam is an established expert in fiber optics, all-optical switching and ultra-fast networks. Prior to founding Xtera, he was the founder of Accuphotonics, which developed fiber optic probes for biomedical imaging. Other members of the Xtera management team include:

* Carl DeWilde, Executive VP of Product Realization and COO - DeWilde brings a wealth of industry experience to his role at Xtera, having served in leadership positions with Fujitsu, Alcatel and Siemens Transmission Systems. He came to Xtera from Fujitsu, where he was VP of Product Development and Strategic Planning.

* Paul Harrison, VP of Marketing - Harrison's background spans nearly two decades and is highlighted by successful tenures at some of the giants in the communications industry, including Marconi and Alcatel. Most recently, he was VP of Product Strategy with Alcatel.

* Herve Fevrier, VP of Photonics - Fevrier came to Xtera following a successful tenure with industry leader Alcatel where he served in many capacities, including Vice President and General Manager of the Optical Networking business.

* Chris Ryan, VP of Finance - Ryan has handled leadership duties in a wide variety of financial and management postings during his 15-year career in the telecommunications industry, most recently holding the lead financial position in Alcatel Transmission Systems Division.

* Bryan Floren, VP of Engineering - Floren's 17-year career has included senior positions with a number of prominent companies within the communications industry, including Fujitsu and Honeywell. Most recently, he was a Senior Director in Fujitsu's development organization.

About Xtera Communications

Xtera Communications specializes in network infrastructure that delivers the highest capacity, reach and density. Our long-haul, Submarine, Metro and WAN technologies together with our deployment expertise drive customer success and long term value.

Xtera offers an extensive portfolio of Optical Transport solutions for long-haul, regional, metropolitan and sub-sea networks, and WAN Traffic Management solutions for both enterprise and telecom companies.  

With deployments in four continents, Xtera’s Optical Transport portfolio helps service providers worldwide reach new markets via new deployments, and extends the life of their existing network assets with cost-effective upgrades. Xtera‘s innovative Traffic Management solutions offer customers the best price/performance in network optimization.

Xtera delivers compelling advantage to its customers by maximising network capacity, reach and value.

For more information, please visit www.xtera.com