White Rock Networks Secures $42M in Series D Venture Funding.Business Editors & High Tech Writers DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 18, 2002 Unique modular architecture will offer carriers a smooth, low-cost migration path to Next-Generation Networks. White Rock Networks, a provider of next-generation optical transport systems for the local metro transport market, today announced the completion of $42 million in fourth-round Venture funding. The funding will be used to continue the development of White Rock's modular family of 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. products and support the continued growth of its sales and support activities. This round will carry the company all the way through cash-flow positive operations and brings the total funds raised by White Rock Networks to $144 million since its inception in 1999. In previous rounds, the company raised $12 million in February 2000, followed by $30 million in June 2000, and $60 million in November 2001. Led by Oak Investment Partners, all of White Rock's existing major investors (Oak Investment Partners, Mayfield Fund, Meritech Capital, Fremont Communications, Fremont Ventures, Investor AB (through its wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. , Investor Growth Capital), Hook Partners, Gulf International Bank, Pacesetter Capital Group) have invested again. In addition, a new major investor, 3i, a leading international venture capital investment firm has joined the round. Based on figures from the National Venture Capital Association the round features in the top 25 late-stage venture rounds of this year. "In this environment only the very best companies are receiving funding," said Bandel Carano, General Partner of Oak Investment Partners. "We believe White Rock is one of them, and the company continues to be a excellent investment prospect for us. We are also pleased to see the addition of a major new investor of the calibre of 3i to the round." White Rock Networks provides a family of next generation optical transport systems to fiber-based carriers enabling them to deliver very high-speed services to their business customers in metro area environments (often referred to as Metro Optical Transport Equipment). "White Rock is one of the very few optical systems companies to have found a product strategy which accomplished two important things: best-of-breed products in today's SONET transport market, and the architectural openness to just as effectively evolve with the market and with new component technologies," said Nelson Stacks, an investment director with 3i who will join White Rock's Board. "We really think their modular product family architecture can make them one of the long term winners in this space, and we expect their approach to become a template for future metro solutions." MARKET CHALLENGE FOR WHITE ROCK'S CUSTOMERS a. White Rock's customer market is the Multi-service Provision Platform (MSPP (MultiService Provisioning Platform) A high-end Cisco router that supports TDM circuits, packets and optical connections at the edge of the network. See MSSP and MSTP. ) market as well the next-generation SONET marketplace. These customers are established CLEC's, IXC's, and ILEC's who must constantly evolve/upgrade/expand their fiber-based networks to deliver the bandwidths required by an Internet-centric economy. b. In general, these carriers are at the front end of a multi-decade fiber infrastructure build out that will eventually eliminate the "so-called" Metro Bandwidth bottleneck. This bottleneck has retarded the ability of carriers to satisfy pent up end user demand for higher and higher bandwidth services and lower prices. c. MSPPs are a new type of optical network element designed to replace legacy synchronous optical network (networking) Synchronous Optical NETwork - (SONET) A broadband networking standard based on point-to-point optical fibre networks. SONET will provide a high-bandwidth "pipe" to support ATM-based services. (SONET) add/drop multiplexers (ADM See add/drop multiplexer. (language) ADM - A picture query language, extension of Sequel2. ["An Image-Oriented Database System", Y. Takao et al, in Database Techniques for Pictorial Applications, A. Blaser ed, pp. 527-538]. ) in metropolitan applications. Based on SONET technology (or synchronous digital hierarchy (communications, standard) Synchronous Digital Hierarchy - (SDH) An international digital telecommunications network hierarchy which standardises transmission around the bit rate of 51.84 megabits per second, which is also called STS-1. [SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) The European counterpart to SONET. See SONET. SDH - Synchronous Digital Hierarchy ] technology outside of North America), these devices incorporate time-division multiplexing (TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) A technology that transmits multiple signals simultaneously over a single transmission path. Each lower-speed signal is time sliced into one high-speed transmission. ) transport and switching functionality along with non-TDM capabilities, such as Ethernet transport and switching, in a single chassis. d. Today's MSPPs have been based upon monolithic platforms (which attempt to integrated a huge range of services into a single chassis) which compromise their size, power, and cost effectiveness for any particular application. This in many cases delays the migration to new technologies since MSPP platforms are simply too expensive when used to deploy today's applications. WHITE ROCK'S SOLUTION - A NEW KIND OF MSPP White Rock's product advantages in cost, size, and power are derived largely from its unique modular product family. Unlike its competitors, White Rock has broken up the MSPP problem into pieces, modular, stackable product elements. This approach has enabled White Rock to attack the cost/size/power of each element. And with the help of a robust software-based control plane that transforms their modular "building-blocks" into a single network element, this growing family of products can dramatically reduce the resultant cost/size/power to address a growing number of Metro Transport applications. "White Rock is focused on making today's technology (SONET and Wavelength Division Multiplexing See WDM. (communications) wavelength division multiplexing - (WDM) Multiplexing several Optical Carrier n signals on a single optical fibre by using different wavelengths (colours) of laser light to carry different signals. ) cheaper, smaller, and less power consuming," said Lonnie Martin founder 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 White Rock Networks. "But aside from the real value we provide with today's products, we also bring a product family architecture that can evolve to include future product elements that are just as cost effective as today's. One thing is certain; optical components and transport technologies and customer applications will continue to change and White Rock is poised to evolve with these changes". "It goes without saying we are extremely pleased with the results of this financing and the confidence our existing and new investors have shown in what we are doing," he added. About White Rock Networks White Rock Networks provides carriers with a family of next-generation optical transport systems that enable the cost-effective delivery of high-speed services in metro areas. The company's innovative building-block architecture provides carriers with "step-function" improvements in their capital and operating costs, as well as deployment flexibility in serving a variety of metro customers. About Oak Investment Partners Oak (www.oakinvestment.com) is a classic venture capital firm that funds high-growth entrepreneurial ventures and assists in guiding them to industry leadership. Over the last twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. Oak has actively participated in the repeated waves of innovation that have swept through our economy. Oak companies have been notable contributors to innovation in the IC, PC, Networking, Specialty Retail, Biomedical bi·o·med·i·cal adj. 1. Of or relating to biomedicine. 2. Of, relating to, or involving biological, medical, and physical sciences. , Wireless, Enterprise Software and Internet industries. Oak considers its role has been to identify and assist entrepreneurs who can create innovative ventures in these areas by combining new ideas with business savvy. About 3i 3i is a leading international venture capital company with U.S. offices in Menlo Park, CA and Waltham, MA. Operating since 1945, 3i has invested worldwide over $22 billion, including co-investment funds, through its 16-country, 3-continent network of 36 offices. 3i leverages this worldwide presence to add value to its portfolio companies and investment partners. In the United States, 3i concentrates on early and later stage technology investments in companies with the potential to be leaders in their markets. Outside the USA, 3i invests broadly in private equity and venture capital. Since opening its US businesses in 1999, 3i has become one of the most active VC's in the US. Recent investments in early stage companies include Bitfone, Cometa Networks, Knowmadic, Sonim and OmniGuide. Along with these early stage investments, 3i successfully implemented its later stage initiative with the stated goal of placing an equal focus on both early stage start-ups as well as later stage investments. Recent investments include Top Layer and Placeware. Visit 3i and its portfolio at www.3ius.com. About Mayfield Fund Since its founding in 1969, Mayfield Fund has demonstrated its leadership in early stage venture 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 time and again by teaming up with exceptional individuals to create industry-leading companies. Mayfield was an early investor in LANs (3Com - COMS COMS 3Com Corporation (stock symbol) COMS Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist COMS Continuous Opacity Monitoring Systems COMS City of Manchester Stadium (UK) , Crescendo (Cisco) - CSCO CSCO Cisco Systems Incorporated (stock symbol) CSCO Chief Supply Chain Officer ), biotech (Amgen - AMGN, Genetec - DNA DNA: see nucleic acid. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid One of two types of nucleic acid (the other is RNA); a complex organic compound found in all living cells and many viruses. It is the chemical substance of genes. ), 3D graphics (Silicon Graphics - SGI (SGI, Sunnyvale, CA, www.sgi.com) A manufacturer of workstations and servers, founded in 1982 by Jim Clark. The company was founded as Silicon Graphics, Inc., but changed to its acronym in 1999. , S3 - SIII), enterprise software (Advent - ADVS ADVS Automatisiertes Datenverarbeitungssystem ADVS Assistant Director Veterinary Service , Citrix - CTRX CTRX Contractions (labor & delivery) , Vantive - VNTV VNTV Vantive Corporation (former stock symbol; now delisted) ), enterprise computers (Tandem, Compaq - CPQ CPQ Compaq CPQ Conseil du Patronat du Québec (Canada) CPQ Configure-Price-Quote CPQ Conseil de Presse du Québec (Québec Press Council, Canada) CPQ Companion Parrot Quarterly ) and semiconductors (LSI LSI: see integrated circuit. (Large Scale Integration) Between 3,000 and 100,000 transistors on a chip. See SSI, MSI, VLSI and ULSI. Logic - LSI, LAM Research - LRCX, Linear Technologies - LLTC LLTC Liquid-Liquid Thermal Cycling ). About Meritech Capital Partners Meritech Capital is a late-stage venture capital fund that was co-founded and sponsored by five leading venture firms: Accel Partners, Brentwood Venture Capital, Oak Investment Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Worldview world·view n. In both senses also called Weltanschauung. 1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world. 2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group. Technology Partners. Meritech is capitalized at $1.1 billion. Meritech focuses on several technology sectors: wireline and wireless communications equipment and services as well as Internet enabling technologies and services. About Fremont Communications Fremont Communications (www.fremontgroup.com)--a business line of the Fremont Group, a San Francisco-based private investment company--invests in telecommunications both in the United States and abroad. With $250 million in private equity to invest, Fremont Communications invests across all stages, from early-stage Series A venture to buyout/private equity investments. About Fremont Ventures Fremont Ventures (www.fremontgroup.com)--a business line of the Fremont Group, a San Francisco-based private investment company--invests in the extended enterprise infrastructure including breakthrough hardware and software technology that enables faster, easier, cheaper, more reliable and more secure network-based information systems. About Hook Partners Hook Partners is a privately held venture capital firm whose Partners have invested in early stage Silicon Valley and Southwest high technology companies since 1979. Hook's investments include Apple Computer, Applied Digital Access, Sylantro Systems, Nuasis, Inphi, Candera, Valere Power, Spatial Wireless, Xtera Communications, Astute Networks, Etec Systems, Harmonic, LGC LGC Logistics (Contracting) LGC Local Government Commission LGC La Gloria Cubana (cigar) LGC Laboratory of the Government Chemist (UK) Wireless, Maxtor, Midway Airlines, Octel Communications, Power Integrations, Promatory Communications, Qpass, Spectrian, TriQuint Semiconductors, VidaMed, Vitesse Semiconductor, Volterra Semiconductor and White Rock Networks. Hook Partners' portfolio companies have had a combined market capitalization Market Capitalization A measure of a public company's size. Market capitalization is the total dollar value of all outstanding shares. It's calculated by multiplying the number of shares times the current market price. This term is often referred to as market cap. in excess of $20 billion, and have raised over $2 billion in the public markets. About Investor Growth Capital Investor AB of Sweden (www.investorab.com) participated in the offering through Investor Growth Capital, Inc., its healthcare, information technology and telecommunications private equity and venture capital investment group. Investor AB is Sweden's largest listed industrial holding company. The company's business concept is to create shareholder value through long-term committed ownership and investment activities. Investor is a leading shareholder in a number of public multinational companies, including AstraZeneca, Ericsson, and SEB Noun 1. SEB - a form of staphylococcal enterotoxin that has been used as an incapacitating agent in biological warfare staphylococcal enterotoxin B . Investor also conducts venture capital activities in North America, Europe and Asia. About Gulf International Bank Gulf International Bank is a $15 billion investment banking firm. Its Private Equity practice, based in 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 , manages a late-stage private equity fund; Falcon Private Equity LP (www.falconprivateequity.com) focused on the following sectors: communications equipment and services, enterprise software, media, and specialty manufacturing. Its portfolio companies include eMotion, Inc., Visual Insights, Inc., Vantico SA, digiMine, Inc, Anystream Inc and Chorum Technologies Inc About Pacesetter Capital Group Pacesetter Capital Group (www.pacesettercapital.com) is a diversified family of private equity funds that manages assets exceeding $200 million. Investments are made primarily in the Southwestern United States in venture financings, leveraged buyouts, growth financings, and other special situations with a focus on the telecommunications, broadcasting, manufacturing and services, and enterprise software sectors. |
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