IRVINE, California, March 25, 2008 – Lonnie Martin, who has spent more than 35 years in the telecommunications industry and served as chief executive officer for several well-known companies in the course of his career, has been named the CEO of Aktino, the leader in delivery of Carrier Ethernet and broadband services over existing copper wiring infrastructure.

Martin, who was most recently CEO of White Rock Networks, an optical equipment company that he founded in 1999 and guided until 2006, when it was sold to Turin Networks, has taken the helm at Aktino at a time when the company is generating increasing interest in its range of high-bandwidth, long-reach copper solutions.

Martin describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur.” He has been president and CEO of three venture capital-backed companies in Silicon Valley and Dallas – White Rock Networks, Broadband Telesystems, and Coastcom – and a top executive at two large multinational companies, ADC Telecommunications and Ascom/Timeplex.

“Service ubiquity is a first requirement for carriers.  Deployment of fiber progressively magnifies the need to do more on copper to sustain service ubiquity. Aktino fulfills that need with solutions that deliver three to five times the bandwidth of alternative solutions – at distances that are common in carrier networks,” Martin said.

“Whether this means delivering 10Mb Ethernet service at CSA, increasing remote DSLAM backhaul to 50 Mbps, or tripling the bandwidth from cell sites using existing copper facilities, Aktino’s MIMO on DMT has the performance advantage, optional asymmetrical operation, and complete ADSL spectral compatibility that enable carriers to cost-effectively achieve service ubiquity leveraging existing copper facilities.”

“Aktino is helping to redefine the power of copper as a valuable and cost-effective complement to fiber that helps service providers leverage their infrastructure to grab new revenue opportunities and retain existing customers.  I’m eager to guide the company to further customer successes and continued technology leadership,” Martin added.

Martin pointed to specific Aktino strengths, such as its VDSL2-based MIMO (Multiple In, Multiple Out) on DMT (Discrete Multi-Tone) technology, which virtually eliminates crosstalk between copper pairs and allows multimegabit capacity on each copper pair, all the way to the edge of the carrier serving area. He also noted Aktino’s asymmetric bandwidth technology, which allows service providers to tailor the upstream and downstream bandwidths to specific customer needs and enables bandwidth as high as 7 Mbps per pair. He echoed the endorsements of many providers already leveraging this feature that it will continue to be key to providing cost-effective DSL and cell site backhaul.

“Lonnie Martin brings a wealth of valuable expertise to the CEO position, and his vast experience will help Aktino capitalize on its significant technological advantages and excel in continued customer acquisition, strategic partnering, and growth,” said Rick DeGabrielle, Chairman of the Board of Aktino. DeGabrielle, who himself has a quarter century of telecommunications industry experience, became board chairman in late 2007.

“We have great confidence in Aktino and believe that Lonnie Martin is the right executive, with the right skills to take Aktino to the next level,” said Bruce Hallett, a partner with Miramar Ventures, one of Aktino’s key investors.

Before founding White Rock Networks, Martin was president of the Business Broadband Group at ADC Telecommunications, and before that was an executive at Ascom/Timeplex. He had earlier served as CEO of Broadband Telesystems, a company he sold to Timeplex. He has served on the boards of Lightwave Systems, TXP, Efficient Networks, Adaptive Broadband, Quarry Technologies, and on a special Competitiveness Council launched by Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

He has an MBA from the Harvard Business School and bachelors and masters degrees from Caltech.

Aktino, founded in 2003, is highly focused on the use of bonded copper to enable providers to take advantage of the quickly growing, New Mid-Band Ethernet market opportunity, which requires service capacities of 10 to 50 Mbps. It was the first company to deliver products for the business Ethernet market based on MIMO on DMT.  The Aktino product portfolio includes the AK3000 DS3 over copper solution, AK5000, a scalable, shelf-based carrier Ethernet platform for larger installations and the 0-50 Mbps AK4000 carrier Ethernet point-to-point product.

About Aktino