Hi Greg and others...a friend of mine sends the following and wonders how MRV might be effected...if at all...interesting to see 100 million raised, and makes one speculate that the "business" has some real potential. I don't recall if the article was posted previously. If so, my apologies.
m1
Perhaps someone here can opine as to how MRVC is positioned vis a vis this startup which has raised well over $100 MILLION in funding.....
News Releases
Atrica Raises $17 Million in the First Close of its Fourth Round of Funding
July 14 2003
Santa Clara, CA - July 14, 2003 - AtricaTM Inc., a leading provider of optical Ethernet equipment for the rapidly expanding metro networking market segment, today announced that it has raised $17 Million in the first close of its fourth round of funding. The first close includes funding from existing investors - Accel Partners, Ascend Technology Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Challenge Fund, Innovacom (the venture capital subsidiary of France Telecom), Gemini Israel Fund, Investor Growth Capital, JK&B Capital, and St. Paul Venture Capital; and from new investors such as Intel Capital, Intel Corporation's strategic investment program. Atrica will use the fourth round investment as working capital to meet increasingly strong demand for its Optical Ethernet Systems worldwide, especially in Asia.
This round of funding builds upon the $117 Million Atrica has already received from industry notables such as 3Com and from global service providers such as BellSouth Corporation, Bezeq, SBC Communications, Inc. (via Aurum-SBC Ventures), Saturn Venture Partners, and Telia.
"We are pleased to announce continued support from many of our existing, world-class investment partners, and we are happy to welcome Intel Capital as a new investor," said Vivek Ragavan, president and CEO of Atrica. "This round of funding will allow us to continue leveraging our industry-leading technology to best meet the business and technology needs of service providers worldwide."
"In addition to the Intel Capital investment, Atrica will be able to benefit from Intel technology developments in opto-electronics targeted at meeting the requirements for large scale metro Ethernet deployments," said Mike Ricci, vice president, Intel Communications Group and general manager, Optical Products Group, Intel Corporation.
Atrica's Optical Ethernet Systems
A complete solution for Metro carriers, Atrica's suite of Carrier-class Optical Ethernet Systems is comprised of the A-2000 family of Optical Ethernet Edge Switches, the A-4000 family of Optical Ethernet Aggregation Switches, the A-8000 family of Optical Ethernet Core Switches, and the Atrica Service Platform for Ethernet Networks (ASPENä), an integrated service provisioning and management system. Unlike modified SONET/SDH platforms that attempt to retrofit technology designed primarily for voice traffic, or most Ethernet solutions that are based on enterprise-class equipment, Atrica's Carrier-class Optical Ethernet Systems were developed specifically for the service provider environment.
Atrica's Optical Ethernet Systems - including 10 Gigabit Ethernet and integrated WDM technology - supply significantly better price/performance than SONET/SDH-based equipment. In addition, Atrica's Optical Ethernet Systems deliver Carrier-class attributes including guaranteed service level agreements (SLAs), sub-50 millisecond resiliency, integration with circuit switched networks, Ethernet Circuit Emulation Services (CES) for support of TDM traffic, and point-and-click OAM&P that meets and exceeds what carriers have been accustomed to in legacy networks.
About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel's strategic investment program, focuses on making equity investments and acquisitions to grow the Internet economy in support of Intel's strategic interests. Intel Capital invests in hardware, software, and services companies in several market segments, including computing, networking, and wireless communications. For more information, visit www.intel.com/capital.
About Atrica
Atrica's mission is to deliver the most cost-effective, high-performance Optical Ethernet solutions to forward thinking service providers that are building next-generation metro networks. Its revolutionary, Carrier-class Optical Ethernet Systems are designed to allow service providers to reduce costs, simplify operations, and rapidly and profitably deliver new Ethernet-based services. Privately held, Atrica is based in Santa Clara, California, with R&D facilities in Israel and business development and sales offices throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific. The company has received a total of $117 Million in funding to date, from top tier venture capital firms, and seven leading global service providers. For more information, visit Atrica on the Web at www.atrica.com.
Atrica and ASPEN are registered trademarks and trademarks of Atrica Ireland Limited in the United States and other countries. |
