Antec Shifts From Chicago to Atlanta, Denver

Antec Corp. will shut down its Chicago-area headquarters asthe year unfolds, moving about 120 employees to the Atlanta and Denver areas.

Employees at the cable-equipment supplier's RollingMeadows, Ill., headquarters were told two weeks ago to begin considering a move, with someheaded to the company's Atlanta-area Network Systems group and others to Englewood,Colo., where Antec's Telewire distribution subsidiary is located.

Many key executives have already moved. Executive vicepresident Gordon Halverson relocated to the Denver area early this year. Chairman and CEOJohn Egan, chief operating officer Bob Stanzione and executive vice president LarryMargolis are also spending most of their time in Atlanta, an Antec spokesman said.

Executive vice president Jim Faust -- who, since April, hasshared Antec's 'office of the president' with Halverson and Margolis --opted not to move from the Chicago area, and he will stay with Antec through the end ofnext month. Faust is CEO of Antec Network Technologies, the firm's manufacturing andresearch-and-development arm, and he oversees international operations. He will remain onthe company's board of directors.

Antec vice president of administration Jim Bauer confirmedthe corporate changes, emphasizing that many details are not finalized and that Antec isworking to make the transition a 'bottom-up' decision by individual employees.

'Right now, we're working to craft specifictransition plans for each function as we consolidate into Atlanta' and Denver, hesaid.

Antec has struggled with weak sales, which led to a $2million (5 cents per share) loss in the fiscal third quarter, compared with $9.5 million(24 cents) in net income in the same period a year ago. But the company is expandingproduction capacity to meet rising demand by cable operators, including key customerTele-Communications Inc.