Alteon WebSystems Explodes Onto Development Scene

SOUTH SAN JOSE-Alteon WebSystems doesn’t like doing things small. So when the Internet infrastructure company gathered to celebrate the start of construction on its new 300,000-sf, four-building campus late last week, CEO Dominic Orr didn’t push down a golden shovel. He pushed down a detonator wired to a goodly sum of dynamite.

“That’s what we do,” a company source tells GlobeSt. “We started out as a small … company and so like everyone else in Silicon Valley, we resorted to theatrics to scream louder than any other company.”

Alteon had long since been noticed, however. The company recently announced it will be bought by Nortel Networks for $7.8 million. “It was one of our last independent acts,” the source said. “We decided to go big. We tend to have big parties, give away big toys.”