Ray Kao, CEO and CTO of Polaris, receives Prestigious Top 10 Innovators Award from Red Herring Magazine

Recognized by Red Herring Editors for Industry-shaping Innovations in the Telecommunications Market

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - September 5, 2002 - Ray Kao, CEO, CTO of Polaris Networks, Inc., a developer of metro optical networking systems, has been named to the prestigious "Top Innovators" list by the editors of Red Herring, the premier magazine of business technology and innovation.

Each year, Red Herring recognizes those men and women who best represent the innovative spirit with their ability to shape the industry and create new markets. These individuals are not only innovators but also seasoned entrepreneurs with vision and solid business acumen.

"I am both pleased and honored to have received this prestigious industry recognition", said Ray Kao. The telecommunications market is experiencing its most difficult period ever and the need for innovation in this weak climate has become critical. At Polaris we are bringing new generation switching technology to the market that will help service providers address their critical need to immediately and dramatically reduce network costs and maximize profitability. Fundamentally, the key to a successful start-up is based on four requirements: a solid understanding of the market, a technology and solution vision, a good business plan, and the right team to execute to this plan.

"Innovators have always been heroes to Red Herring," said Blaise Zerega, editor of Red Herring magazine. "Unlike other publications that produce similar lists, Red Herring chooses top-notch engineers, software developers, scientists, and business men and women who have distinguished themselves with a combination of both business and technical successes. In fact, this year's list averages seven patents and three startups per individual. All told, the people on the list have produced $17 billion in wealth and nearly 9,000 jobs."

"Executives that possess strong technical and business knowledge are very rare," said Dick Moley, Founding Partner, SToRM Ventures (formerly Chairman and CEO of StrataCom). "Ray is one of the these individuals that has been able to demonstrate this unique quality through his consistent success-driven track record."

The Top Innovators list, featured in the September 2002 issue of Red Herring magazine, includes a profile of Ray Kao and his current venture, Polaris Networks.

About Polaris

Polaris Networks develops new generation optical transport switching systems for metro core networks. From day one, its systems combine optical transport with extensive grooming and switching, managed via a GMPLS-based common control plane. Polaris' architecture is designed for native support of TDM, cell and packet traffic using a single, software-defined switching fabric. This enables service providers to cost-effectively simplify their infrastructures, flexibly scale, and provides a smooth migration to a full multiservice intelligent architecture.

Polaris was founded in June 2000 and is staffed by teams from Alcatel, Cisco, Fujitsu, Nortel, Siemens, Tellabs, AT&T and WorldCom. The company is funded by Redpoint Ventures, Venrock Associates, Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV), SToRM Ventures and strategic private investors.