Azanda Network Devices Secures $19 Million in Series B Funding.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 2002 Semiconductor Technology Company's "Real Market" Focus Nets Re-Investment from Bessemer Venture Partners Bessemer Venture Partners is a private venture capital firm with offices in Silicon Valley, New York, Massachusetts, China, and India. It has backed such companies as Ciena, Flarion, Parametric Technologies, Skype, Staples, VeriSign and Veritas. , Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., or simply Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is one of the world's largest global investment banks. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869, and is headquartered in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City at 85 Broad Street. and Highland Capital Partners Highland Capital Partners is a global venture capital firm with offices located in Boston, Silicon Valley, Geneva, and Shanghai. Since its inception in 1988, the firm has invested in more than 180 early and growth stage companies and taken a sector-focused approach to investing in Azanda Network Devices, an innovator in the development of silicon products for managing the way traffic is processed in network core, edge and enterprise markets, today announced it has secured $19 million in its Series B financing round. Series A investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Highland Capital Partners and Commonwealth Capital Ventures co-led the round, and Series A investor Goldman Sachs also participated as a significant investor in the new round. Today's announcement brings the total capital raised by Azanda Network Devices since the company's inception to over $29 million. Azanda raised $10 million from its first round of funding in 2000. The only independent company focused on best-of-breed traffic management, Azanda will use this new round of financing to further drive to market its silicon products for network co-processing functions. Azanda is currently finalizing the commercialization of its next-generation technology for a variety of products, including OC-48 (2.5 Gbps) and OC-192 (10 Gbps) traffic management for the optical metro network, the access portion of core networks, and enterprise networks at the WAN edge. "This second round of funding demonstrates very strong support from our existing investors," said Steve Dines, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Azanda. "Few companies are getting any venture funding in today's challenging financial environment. Furthermore, the level of capital we have raised underscores our investors' confidence that Azanda is making significant product and customer progress. Our application of 10 Gbps 0.15 micron technology Micron Technology ("Micron") NYSE: MU is a multinational company based in Boise, Idaho, USA, best known for producing many forms of semiconductor devices. This includes DRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, and CMOS image sensing chips. to high-density OC-48 (and below) solutions, as well as OC-192 solutions, provides Azanda with a clear competitive advantage," he added. A recent survey conducted by CIC CIC circulating immune complexes. CIC Circulating immune complexes. See Immune complexes. Research indicates that the top issues driving telecommunications carriers' investments are: (1) The ability to offer performance guarantees, and (2) Improving performance of existing equipment. Therefore, carriers are placing considerable pressure on network Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to scale their existing equipment with new optical networking Communications between computers, telephones and other electronic devices using light. An optical network is far more reliable and has far greater potential transmission capacity than networking in the electrical domain. See optical fiber. line cards that offer higher density and greater functionality, but at a much faster pace, and at reduced costs. As a result, OEMs are, in turn, increasing their demand for merchant silicon that takes advantage of existing packet processing and switch fabric architectures in order to preserve their installed-base investments and to reduce their product time-to-market. Azanda's silicon technology for managing the way traffic is processed in the network is unique in the industry in that it incorporates an open architecture. This open architecture enables an "evolutionary" approach to reconfiguring networks as it seamlessly interfaces with any network processor or switch fabric in both legacy and new-generation platforms. It allows OEMs to more quickly bring to market equipment that supports new revenue-generating services and Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. "At Bessemer Venture Partners, we recognize that the functions surrounding the network processor require powerful new silicon solutions. We believe that Azanda is uniquely poised to meet this need, and we wish to take advantage of the multi-billion dollar opportunity this market sector offers," said Rob Chandra, general partner of Bessemer Venture Partners and a member of Azanda's board of directors. "Azanda's evolutionary approach In computer science, an evolutionary approach is an acquisition strategy that defines, develops, produces or acquires, and fields an initial hardware or software increment (or block) of operational capability. to serving the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and market gives us the confidence to further invest in the company, as we believe this approach will help drive Azanda to success." "This investment reflects Highland's recognition of the capabilities of Azanda's stellar management team," said Sean Dalton, General Partner of Highland Capital Partners and also a member of Azanda's board of directors. "It is truly rare for a company at this stage of development to have gathered together a group with so much industry knowledge and engineering talent to deliver on their mission. Through working for the biggest names in the industry, Azanda's team accumulated its expertise in successfully designing SONET, ATM and Ethernet switching components, and it clearly shows in their technology roadmap The context of product management The existence of product managers in the product software industry indicates that software is becoming more and more commercialized as a standard product. ." About Azanda Network Devices Azanda Network Devices is an innovator in the development of silicon products for the optical metro network, the access portion of core networks, and enterprise networks at the WAN edge. It is poised to "evolutionize" the datapath architecture of high-speed optical line cards by using an "open architecture" approach to managing the way data traffic is processed. Azanda's high-performance silicon products help OEMs leverage their existing investments in systems and accelerate their product time-to-market. Additional information on Azanda can be found at http:///www.azanda.com, or by contacting company headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., at 408/720-3100. About Bessemer Venture Partners Bessemer Venture Partners, with offices in Calif., Mass. and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , is the leading national, early-stage venture capital firm in communications technology Noun 1. communications technology - the activity of designing and constructing and maintaining communication systems engineering, technology - the practical application of science to commerce or industry and Internet infrastructure. The firm manages more than a billion dollars of venture funds, carrying on a tradition of hands-on, active venture investing venture investing The acquiring of a stake in a start-up company by a brokerage firm or analyst by obtaining discounted, pre-IPO shares. Critics claim venture investing causes analysts to have a vested interest in seeing a stock appreciate in value and so that has continued since 1911. Many leading-edge communications companies, including Cascade, Ciena, Flarion, OMM OMM Organisation Météorologique Mondiale (French: World Meteorological Organization) OMM Organización Meteorológica Mundial (Spanish: World Meteorological Organization) OMM Organizzazione Meteorologica Mondiale , Parametric, QED QED abbr. Latin quod erat demonstrandum (which was to be demonstrated) QED which was to be shown or proved [Latin quod erat demonstrandum] Noun 1. , Sirocco sirocco (sərŏk`ō) [Ital., from Arab. sharq=east], hot, dust-laden, dry, southerly wind originating in the N African desert (most commonly in the spring) and reaching Italy and nearby Mediterranean areas. , Sonus Networks and VeriSign selected BVP BVP bovine viral papillomatosis. as their early-stage venture partner. For more information, visit www.bvp.com. About Commonwealth Capital Ventures Commonwealth Capital Ventures is a venture capital firm located in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Commonwealth Capital is an early-stage investor in private companies focused in the telecommunications, software and internet-related industries. Founded in 1995, the firm has invested in such companies as Altiga Networks, Centra Software, American Internet, and NBX (Network Branch EXchange) A family of IP-based telephony systems from 3Com. The name was derived from "PBX," the traditional name for an enterprise telephone switch. Corp. For more information, visit Commonwealth Capital's website at www.commonwealthvc.com. About Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and largest investment banking firms. The firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world. For more information, visit www.goldmansachs.com About Highland Capital Partners Highland Capital Partners is an early-stage venture firm focused on building companies in the communications, information technology and healthcare markets. Founded in 1988, Highland's strategy is to invest in exceptional people and provide them with the right mix of strategic guidance, management expertise, and hands-on leadership for building successful and enduring companies. With over $1.8 billion under management, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Altiga Networks, Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, Be Free, CheckFree, HighGround Systems, Lycos, MapQuest, New Oak, NextCard, Ocular Networks, Sybase and WebLine Communications. For more information, visit Highland's web site at www.hcp.com. |
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