San Francisco (April 12, 1999) - Walden International ("WI") is pleased to announce that Cisco Systems, Inc., a public company listed on NASDAQ, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Fibex Systems, Inc., one of WIIG's portfolio companies. The acquisition of Fibex Systems is strategic to Cisco Systems' ability to offer service providers an accelerated migration from Old World circuit-based networks to New World Cell and packet-based networks.

Founded in 1997, Fibex Systems is a pioneer in Integrated Access Digital Loop Carrier (IADLC) products, devices that combine traditional voice services with data services using ATM as the underlying architecture. Cisco Systems is acquiring Fibex Systems to help service providers manage the migration to the New World by aggregating local telephone service and data service in a single access device. Fibex Systems' IADLC manages both circuit-based voice traffic and packet-based traffic. An integrated access device also ensures that data traffic is immediately transferred to a cell and packet network, minimizing the need for service providers to invest further in circuit switch technology. In addition, Fibex Systems' products inter-operate with carriers' existing Class 5 switches, data switches and customer premise equipment to ease migration to New World networks.

"Our early investment in Fibex was based upon the belief that the rapid convergence of voice and data traffic and deregulation of the telecom industry would create fantastic opportunities for new telecom architectures, and that the Fibex founders were the right guys to execute on products to fill this need" said Andrew Kau, General Partner of WI and a Director of Fibex. "The Fibex DLC Plus product offerings represent a new wave of telecom equipment that can send and receive voice and data communications via four different circuit-switched or packet-switched transmission modes simultaneously (TDM, IP, Frame Relay, and ATM). This is exactly what the CLEC's and IXC's need going forward to offer new competitive services to meet the explosion of data demands."

Established in 1987, WI is an international venture capital firm with over US$850 million in funds under management. WI's international network of investment professionals are located in the United States, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, People's Republic of China, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Australia and Thailand.