expect ipo in the first quarter of 2000....
Venture Funding for this company is 1st tier...
expect this ipo to scream !!!
Optical Networks Closes $15 Million in Third Round of Financing
With Fidelity Ventures as the Lead
Funding From Fidelity Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mohr, Davidow Ventures and Others Will Support Q4 1999 Field Trials in the U.S. and International Markets
SAN JOSE, Calif. ? September 8, 1999 ? Optical Networks, Inc., a Silicon Valley-based optical networking system provider, today announced that it has received an additional $15 million in its third major round of venture investment, bringing its total financing to $50 million. Optical Networks will use the funds to support fourth quarter 1999 field trials of its all-optical metro networking solution, Dynamic Transport System? (DTS?), in the United States and internationally. The company expects its first revenue shipments in the first quarter of 2000.
The newest and lead investor in this round is Fidelity Ventures, the venture capital arm of Fidelity Investments?, which provided $7.5 million. Returning investors include Canaan Partners; Chase Capital; Invesco; Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Mohr, Davidow Ventures; Silver Creek Technology Investors; and Sumitomo.
"The substantial new investment from Fidelity and our current leading venture capital firms validates both the potential of the metropolitan optical networking market and their confidence in Optical Networks? vision," said Hugh Martin, president and CEO of Optical Networks. "This third round of funding will enable us to ramp up our manufacturing, distribution, service and support operations for our upcoming deployments in the U.S. and international markets. With the support of our backers, Optical Networks will be able to easily deliver on the first phase of its strategy, making the 21st century metro communications network a reality."
"Investing in Optical Networks is important to us, in terms, of our broad telecommunications investment strategy, and because it gives us a stake in the exploding all-optical infrastructure market," said Robert Ketterson, vice president of Fidelity Ventures. "We actively invest in CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers), and by investing in Optical Networks?whose Dynamic Transport System will help our CLECs deliver their services quickly and cost effectively?we help make all our telecommunications investments successful."
"The optical networking market is predicted to grow to more than $10 billion by 2002, and the metro transport segment is the key element fueling the growth of the overall market," said Paul Johnson, securities analyst at BancBoston Robertson Stephens. "I believe that Fidelity, Kleiner Perkins, Mohr, Davidow and others that have invested in Optical Networks are making a wise investment. Optical Networks displays all the qualities of a potential market Gorilla: an experienced management team, top-notch transport and data networking experts, tight focus on a crucial market with huge potential, and the right products for the metro market. Optical Networks is definitely the leading metropolitan area optical networking company and one to watch carefully."
The Internet-driven explosion of data-centric traffic is swamping the existing telecommunications networks engineered for voice traffic. Next generation networks, to be composed of four major product types working together simultaneously, will relieve the traffic congestion with all-optical solutions to expand capacity, increase network flexibility, and reduce cost. The four key components of next-generation networks are: long-haul WDM (Wave Division Multiplexing) transport; wide area optical cross-connects; flexible next-generation metro optical transport; and cost-effective optical access.
Optical Networks? DTS provides metro transport, one of the four core components of next-generation networks, and is the key enabler for the continued evolution, or survivability, of the Internet. It provides the crucial linkage between high-capacity, long-haul pipes and bandwidth-insatiable enterprises/end-users.
About Fidelity Ventures
Fidelity Ventures is the venture capital arm of Fidelity Investments, the nation?s largest mutual fund company. Fidelity Ventures has actively invested in early-stage companies for more than 30 years, and many Fidelity Ventures-backed companies have gone on to become or have been acquired by industry leaders including: MCI (now Worldcom [Nasdaq: WCOM]), Continental Cablevision (now MediaOne [NYSE: UMG]), Teleport (now part of AT&T [NYSE:T]), Nextel (Nasdaq: NXTL), GeoTel (now part of Cisco [Nasdaq: CSCO]), Nexabit Networks (now part of Lucent [NYSE: LU]), and COLT (Nasdaq: COLT). In the last five years, Fidelity has invested over $300M of its own capital in emerging companies in the software, networking and telecommunications industries. Fidelity Ventures has offices in Boston and Hong Kong, and can be contacted at www.fidelityventures.com.
About Optical Networks
Optical Networks combines state-of-the-art optical transport systems with data networking technology to deliver true optical networks. These networks will fulfill the promise of wavelength-routed services, while solving the practical issues facing Metro Operators today. Visit Optical Networks? Web site at www.opticalnetworks.com.
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