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TWST: Shall we begin with an introduction to BATM Advanced Communications(London:BVC.L) including a brief historical sketch?

Dr. Marom: BATM started as a bootstrap company in1992. Through the years from 1992, we were involved in building IP devices, mainly routing switches and routing switches with a connection to circuit switching and communication. The company went public in 1996 on the London Stock Exchange and has since then received several awards. In 2000 we bought an American company called Telco systems in Boston and we are active in the United States, Europe and now in the Far East as well.

TWST: Can you tell us about the past 12 months at BATM? How has the company navigated the difficult waters of the Telecom space, coupled with the overall economic downturn?

Dr. Marom: It has been a rough year for all, but in general our revenue declined only 10%, which is not so bad. We had seen what was happening and what was coming and actually we told our investors and shareholders and everybody that this decline was going to happen. We also prepared the company and we are totally debt free with enough cash. We have no lost debt or any customers that went bankrupt and even in this difficult time we are basically profitable. So overall we are in good shape to survive this storm and further more we are in very good discussions whereby even in this difficult time we are both getting contracts from our main customers and even new customers are coming in. So while it is a difficult environment, these are not very bad times for us.

TWST: What is the strategic direction you would like to take the company in over the next two years and what goals have you set along the way?

Dr. Marom: My main interest is not what we are going to do in the next two years, but what we will be doing in the next 5-10 years. We think that we can become quite a substantial world player and I am geared towards the organic growth; although, certainly if we see an opportunity to do an interesting M&A we will certainly do so. We see ourselves strongly positioned in three major regions US, Europe and the Far East, and with partnership with at least 10-15 of the world largest carriers.

TWST: When you have a chance to sit down with potential investors what are the three or four key points you want to impart to them?

Dr. Marom: One of the question that I ask myself everyday is simply, are we a good company or not? I think especially now that times are tough I can say that we are a good company. You measure good companies in bad times not in good times and I think we can be defined as a good company. The second point is, if you are talking about someone who wants to invest in the IT sector, which is certainly is one of the long-term growth sectors under any scenario, and if they are looking to invest in a small to medium size company of 100 million turnover plus or minus, then I think we are an attractive company. We are international and we have taken the right steps. So, we might be interesting for such an investor. The third point is that we have plans that a make a lot of sense and we will guarantee, as much as you can guarantee, substantial growth for the company in the long-term. And that will be I think quite good to anybody that invests in the company.