Matisse Networks Raises $45M to Accelerate
Global Adoption of the EtherBurst™ Optical Switch
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., September 10, 2007—Matisse
Networks, the leader in optical burst switching, today announced
that it has closed a $45M Series C financing round to expand the
sales, marketing and development of the EtherBurst optical
switch. Merrill Lynch PCG invested $35M in the round, which
included all existing investors including Menlo Ventures,
Monitor Ventures, Walden International and Woodside Fund. To
date, Matisse Networks has raised total financing of $80M.
”We are delighted to have Merrill Lynch PCG participate in this
round as the largest investor,” said Sam Mathan, chairman and
CEO of Matisse Networks. “The overall success of this investment
round underscores the global opportunity for Matisse Networks’
EtherBurst optical switch which saves customer 50% of both
capital and operational expenses when compared with existing
metro optical circuit systems.”
The worldwide installed base of over 400,000 synchronous optical
network and synchronous digital hierarchy (SONET/SDH) optical
rings are incapable of meeting the bandwidth demand for packet
services created by both the consumer’s appetite for high
bandwidth applications such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV),
and the enterprise’s migration to high speed carrier Ethernet
services. For IP and Ethernet transport, these legacy SONET/SDH
networks cost far more to deploy and maintain than newer
Ethernet over wave division multiplexing (WDM) solutions like
Matisse Networks’ EtherBurst optical switch.
“Around the globe, carrier investment in optical networking
equipment is clearly beginning to shift from SONET/SDH to
Ethernet over WDM,” said Michael Howard, principal analyst at
Infonetics Research. “Matisse Networks’ innovative EtherBurst
optical switch is well suited to serve a worldwide metro WDM
market segment forecast to grow at a 19% compound annual growth
rate to $4.0B through 2010.”
“Optical burst switching is a disruptive technology that
fundamentally alters the economics of optical network design,”
said Dr. Ray Mota, chief researcher and president of consulting
for Synergy Research Group. “Although optical burst switching
technology has been pursued by researchers within academia and
industry since the late 90’s, Matisse Networks’ EtherBurst
optical switch today remains the only commercially available
optical burst switching system.”
Matisse Networks also announced the following key additions to
its team-- Doug Stewart, vice president of sales for North
America Europe, Middle East; Shigeru Ota, vice president sales
for Asia Pacific; and Gouri Shankar, head of the Matisse
Networks design center in Hyderabad, India.
About Matisse Networks
Matisse Networks is named after Henri Matisse, the famous
painter known as the “Master of Color”. Like the painter,
Matisse Networks is mastering the colors of light to pioneer the
field of optical burst switching. Matisse Networks’ EtherBurst
is the industry’s first optical burst switch, purpose-built for
scaling metro aggregation networks from 10 to 640 Gbps.
Recognized as a Network World “Top 10 Startups to Watch”, a “Red
Herring 100 Private Company”, and Telecommunications Magazine’s
“Product of the Month”, additional information on Matisse
Networks is available at http://www.matissenetworks.com.
Matisse Networks, EtherBurst, and MeshWave are trademarks of
Matisse Networks, Inc.
