Under the terms of the agreement, Nokia ADSs (American Depositary Shares) and Nokia stock options worth approximately US$335 million in total will be exchanged for the outstanding capital stock of Network-Alchemy. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2000.
"The acquisition of Network Alchemy provides Nokia with world-class expertise and patented IP Clustering technology," said T. Kent Elliott, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Nokia Internet Communications. "As Nokia enables users to take greater advantage of on-line transactions -- and as businesses increasingly rely on the Internet to expand addressable markets -- availability, scalability and security become critical."
"Nokia and Network Alchemy share a common vision of the need for reliable and scalable network solutions," said Kenny Frerichs, President and CEO Network Alchemy. "As a global organization, Nokia clearly has the ability to successfully implement the highly available, scalable and secure solutions customers need to compete and win in the exploding Internet economy."
About Network Alchemy
Network Alchemy was founded in September 1997 to develop and market non-stop infrastructure solutions that advance the use of the Internet for secure private communications, commerce and collaboration. The founders, recognized for their innovations in the fields of TCP/IP networking, security and operating systems software, developed the industry's first secure IP clustered networking solution that delivers true scalability, high system availability and superior price performance, with no single point of failure. For more information, please visit www.network-alchemy.com
Nokia Internet Communications, headquartered in Mountain View Calif., develops and markets products for the enterprise and managed service provider markets. These products include Nokia's unique corporate Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) software solutions, industry leading high-availability network appliances, market-leading appliancized applications from partners including Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) and Websense, Inc.
About Nokia
Nokia is paving the way to the mobile information society with its innovative products and solutions. The company is the leading mobile phone supplier and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed and IP networks, related services as well as multimedia terminals. In 1999, Nokia's net sales totaled EUR 19.8 billion (USD 19.9 billion). Headquartered in Finland, Nokia is listed on the New York (NOK), Helsinki, Stockholm, London, Frankfurt and Paris stock exchanges and employs more than 55 000 people.