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FWD: Web backbone provider Priori mulls bankruptcy

  • From: Eric Germann
  • Date: Thu Aug 13 00:46:05 1998

>From Ziff-Davis newswire.  Another one bites the dust?

Comments?

>
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>   By Ben Elgin,
>   [email protected] Reseller
>   August 12, 1998 5:47 PM PT
>   [IMAGE]
>
>   Less than one year after Priori Networks Inc. opened its doors for
>   business, the national Internet backbone provider is on the brink of
>   bankruptcy, [email protected] Reseller has learned.
>
>   All the company's employees have been laid off and the network
>   operation center is no longer functional, according to a source at
>   Priori. Temporary transit arrangements have been made for Priori
>   customers in the Portland, Ore., Chicago, Washington DC, and Palo
>   Alto, Calif. areas, but other customers may be left to fend for
>   themselves, the source added.
>
>   Priori president and CEO Robert Shearing says severe financial
>   shortfalls will force Priori to file for Chapter Seven bankruptcy
>   within several days unless an acquisition offer is made. Under the
>   rules of Chapter Seven, the company will be forced to liquidate its
>   assets to pay off creditors.
>
>   "It's not looking good -- we will have a final decision in the next
>   couple of days," concedes Shearing.
>
>   The company, which launched last October, specialized in selling
>   backbone access to Internet service providers, usually at a lower cost
>   than its telecommunications competitors.
>
>   High hopes dashed
>   With points of presence in Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver;
>   Los Angeles; Palo Alto, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Seattle and
>   Washington, D.C., Priori executives once had high hopes for success in
>   the ISP backbone vertical market.
>
>   But, with a new breed of well-funded backbone providers entering the
>   market, many industry observers believe Priori was a dollar short and
>   a year too late.
>
>   "They came in when the window of opportunity was closing and they made
>   several key mistakes. Perhaps the biggest error was focusing too
>   heavily on engineering while ignoring the sales side," says ISP
>   consultant Michael Dillon, who worked for Priori Networks for six
>   months.
>
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  Eric Germann                                        CCTec
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