High-Tech Start-Up Gets Spokane Site

Seattle-based F5 Networks said Tuesday it has opened a Spokane office that will employ 10 by the end of the year.

F5, a public company that has seen its stock surge since its initial $10-a-share public offering June 4, makes hardware and software that acts as Web site traffic controllers, ensuring Web pages do not fold when viewed by a high number of visitors. The stock closed at $41.56 Tuesday.

Jeff Stockdale, a former Packet Engines employee, has been named director of engineering for F5’s Spokane division.

Stockdale, who arrived from the Seattle area, spent four months with Packet’s “network-interface card” group earlier this year before leaving the company.

Packet confirmed plans to sell that group to one of several unnamed bidders, and a decision could be made as early as this week.

Along with Stockdale, dozens of Packet employees have either chosen to leave or have been laid off in cost-cutting measures implemented by Paris-based Alcatel, Packet’s owner.

A Packet spokesman said 173 employees are still on the payroll; down from about 210.

While Stockdale said he is not looking to recruit Packet workers for F5, he noted, “The pedigree of several folks there is applicable to some of the things we’re doing.”

Similar to F5, another Seattle software company, Wall Data opened a Spokane development office in 1998, starting with 11 employees. Wall Data now employs 17 in its Spokane Valley office, a company spokesman said.

Separately, two other high-tech start-ups have quietly launched in Spokane, both of which are headed by former Packet workers.

One, called Webiness, will employ four, said Bernard Daines, Packet’s founder, who added he is helping back Webiness financially.

The other firm, Capillary Networks, run by a former Packet worker, has recently taken lab space at the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute. A Capillary representative could not be contacted.

Daines, meanwhile, said he still has not decided where he will locate his next business venture, tentatively named World Wide Packets.

He said an announcement could be made by Oct. 1.

Daines also has sued Alcatel over terms of his employment contract.

According to Spokane County Superior Court documents, Daines believes he is entitled to the $6 million being held in escrow at the Bank of New York.

Alcatel, through Packet Engines, has asked to settle the matter in arbitration.