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IP INFUSION INC. COMPLETES $14.7 MILLION
THIRD ROUND OF PRIVATE FINANCING
Funding Round Led by Formative Ventures and imGO Limited, U.S.
and Global Investors Participate
San Jose, Calif., April 24, 2002 – IP Infusion Inc, a leading
provider of intelligent network software for enhanced IP services,
announced today that it has completed a $14.7 million third round
of private financing, which brings the company’s total funding
to $20.4 million since its founding in 1999.
The $14.7 million Series C round was co-led by Formative Ventures
Inc. in the U.S. and imGO Limited (Investor AB, Ericsson, Hutchison
Whampoa, and the Guoco Group) in Hong Kong. Other U.S. investors
include Akers Capital, LLC, Blumberg Capital, Cardinal Ventures,
the Intel Communications Fund, and WS Investments (Wilson Sonsini).
Other international investors include IT-Farm Corporation (METI
Japan, Japan Ministry of Finance and Mitsubishi), ITX Corporation
(Nissho Iwai Corporation), Japan Venture Capital Corp. (Mitsubishi
and China Development Bank), Neoteny Co., Ltd. (Whitney & Company
and IBM Japan, Ltd.) and Nippon Information Technology Consulting
Corp.
“This is a strong, balanced team of U.S. and global investors
with expertise across the broad spectrum of networking, enhanced
IP (Internet Protocol) services, and wired and wireless markets
and technologies,” Nick Keating, IP Infusion president and
CEO said. “We are very pleased to have received their investments.
This funding will help sustain IP Infusion’s customer-building
and revenue-generating initiatives, as well as product development
and diversification in the markets of opportunity for intelligent
networking software.”
IP Infusion develops and markets intelligent networking software
that enables platforms, hardware, devices and media across the Internet
to communicate with each other openly and without dependence on
specific technologies or platforms. “This new networking software
will help drive the communications equipment market by providing
the intelligence and manageability needed to develop equipment for
creating enhanced IP services,” Keating said.
“Although we think about the Internet as comprising specialized
devices such as routers and switches, the fact is that the software
that implements the standard IP protocols is the critical technology,”
Peter Christy, co-founder of NetsEdge Research Group (Los Altos,
CA), said. “In the 18 years since Cisco was founded, microprocessor
power has increased by about 5,000 times and network processors
have been introduced providing lots of options for running network
software on commodity hardware. IP Infusion is a leading provider
of networking software
technology that clearly enables lots of opportunity for providing
innovative IP service offerings.”
Since the company began shipping product in 2001, IP Infusion has
attracted tier one and tier two customers in the U.S., Asia and
Europe in the dynamic wireless, storage area networking, provider
edge, optical networking, traffic optimization, and web and content
management markets. The company’s products are designed to
work with a variety of network processors, which gives its customers
flexibility in selecting the appropriate architecture for their
specific applications. The company is also working with the industry’s
leading network processor (NPU) suppliers, including AMCC, IBM,
Intel, PMC-Sierra, and Vitesse.
“IP Infusion is energizing the network infrastructure market
by providing communications companies with the powerful ability
to create value-added IP services on top of their hardware platforms,”
Brian Connors, general partner of Formative Ventures, who co-led
this investment round, said. “As routing and switching functionality
continues to permeate across
the entire network infrastructure, and even into the home, we believe
IP Infusion sits at the pole position to lead the market into this
next growth phase. Formative Ventures invests in emerging
stage wired and wireless companies that have an opportunity, through
differentiated technologies, to fundamentally change the dynamics
of a market.”
The company developed the industry’s first totally integrated
IPv4, IPv6, and MPLS routing and switching software that support
the primary requirements of enhanced IP services. This “intelligent”
software must also support multiple forwarding engines and network
processors. And perhaps most importantly, it must be platform, device,
and processor independent. In short, the new intelligent software
is to network communications what OS was to computing. The key point
for customers is that IP Infusion software enables manufacturers
to easily create IP enhanced services using any network processor.
“The wireless market is a fast moving market in the Asian
economy and with the introduction of new technologies such as IPv6
and mobile IP, the communications industry needs enabling software
to leverage these new technologies and help them build out their
infrastructure,” Michael Ricks, imGO CEO and co-leader in the
investment, said. “With their intelligent networking software
for enhanced IP services, IP Infusion addresses this need and provides
significant investor interest in Asia. The company fits well with
our portfolio of emerging wireless communications companies that
leverage the expertise of our leading shareholders, including Ericsson,
a global leader in telecommunications and Hutchison Whampoa, a leading
Hong Kong based conglomerate with extensive wireless networks.”
"IP Infusion's market opportunities are driven by three primary
dynamics. The distribution of intelligence; the continued separation
of the forwarding and routing elements, which could substantially
change the architecture of next generation networks; and the proliferation
of IP into new sectors, such as optical infrastructure, voice, cellular,
and storage." said Mark Seery, Program Director, Switching
and Routing, RHK "Intelligent network software will play an
important role in moving packet networks beyond pure transport services,
enabling enhanced services that will add to a service provider's
top line, while also reducing operational expenditures."
About IP Infusion
A leading provider of intelligent network software for enhanced
IP services, IP Infusion is a developer of networking software that
enables platforms, hardware, devices, and media across the Internet
to communicate with each other openly and without dependence on
specific technologies or platforms. Just as Unix and Windows are
central to the PC and server markets, this leading edge software
will drive the communication equipment market by providing the intelligence
and manageability needed to develop equipment for creating enhanced
IP services. IP Infusion was founded in 1999 and has more than 60
employees in its San Jose, California headquarters and elsewhere
in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. The company has a growing global
customer base in the wired and wireless networking markets and has
alliances with the primary network processor (NPU) suppliers. IP
Infusion is a member of the Network Processing Forum and an active
participant in the IETF. For more information about the company
and its products call 1-408-794-1500 or visit www.ipinfusion.com.
Contacts:
Shirley Gines
Code8 Communications
858.459.6368
sgines@code8.com
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IP Infusion and ipinfusion are trademarks of IP
Infusion Inc. All other brands or product names referenced in this
release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
holders.
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