No penalties; company agrees to follow the law SAN FRANCISCO — Network equipment vendor Enterasys Networks has settled a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into its accounting practices, the company announced Wednesday.Without admitting or denying any allegations, the Rochester, New Hampshire, company agreed to an order requiring it to comply with federal securities laws and regulations in the future. Enterasys also agreed to appoint an internal auditor who reports directly to the audit committee of the company’s board of directors. The company appointed an auditor to fill that role, which is a permanent position, in October 2002, said spokesman Drew Miale.The settlement does not require any further adjustment to Enterasys’ historical financial statements and does not impose any fines or civil penalties, according to a company statement. The company, spun off from Cabletron Systems in 2000, has faced a number of problems in addition to the weak market for networking equipment. It was notified of the SEC investigation in January 2002 and has since undergone financial restatements, layoffs and executive changes.Also Wednesday, Enterasys announced it has filed an SEC Form 10-Q with results from its fiscal third quarter of 2002, ended Sept. 28, 2002, which had been delayed because of the investigation. In January it filed 10-Q forms for the first and second quarters of fiscal 2002, which also had been delayed, Miale said.Enterasys also estimated its results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002, ended Dec. 28. The company expects to report break-even operating cash flow in the quarter, with revenue remaining stable in the range of approximately $120 million, according to a company statement. It expects to report that it ended the fiscal year with approximately $305 million in cash and marketable securities. The company’s New York Stock Exchange shares (ETS) closed Wednesday at $1.75, down 2.78 percent. In after-hours markets, the stock had rebounded to $2.00 by the time of this report, according to the Island exchange. Technology Industry