Monday, February 2, 2004

Networks

Internet pioneering firm BBN to be bought from Verizon by management, investors

General Catalyst Partners, a Cambridge-based private equity firm, and Accel Partners, a Palo Alto-based venture capital firm, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to partner with management to acquire Cambridge-based BBN Solutions LLC from Verizon.

Financial terms of the deal were not released.

BBN was founded in 1948 by MIT professors Richard Bolt and Leo Beranek, along with Robert Newman, as a small, acoustical consulting firm.

The company has pioneered numerous firsts, including implementing and operating Arpanet (the basis of today's Internet) in 1969, the first implementation of packet switching, the first router and the first network e-mail, which established the @ sign for e-mail addresses.

Tad Elmer, who has been president of BBN since 1999, will continue in that role. Elmer has been with the company for more than 25 years. Previously, he was leader of the Newport, R.I., office, which focuses on underwater simulation and complex real-time systems.

"This partnership allows BBN to focus on the deeply held values of its entrepreneurial roots," Elmer said in a statement. "Credit goes to everyone who made it possible: Verizon for the good stewardship they've provided BBN over the last few years; General Catalyst Partners and Accel Partners for having the vision to recognize and value BBN's tremendous capacity for innovation; and especially the BBN staff, who focus resolutely on our customers' problems and deliver outstanding results."

BBN has more than 600 employees in offices across the United States.