[August 20, 2001]

Salira Optical Network Systems Secures $17 Million In Series B Funding 

Salira Optical Network Systems, Inc., a company to provide carrier-class, IP/Ethernet systems for broadband access, announced the closing of $17 million in Series B funding. Softbank Venture Capital (SBVC) led the round; Series A lead investor Vertex Management and top-notch Pacific Rim venture capital firm WI Harper also participated in the round. The completion of this second round of funding brings the total investment in Salira to $23.9 million.

"Softbank's investment in Salira represents a strategic interest in both the company's breakthrough access systems and the deep experience of its management team," said Gary Rieschel, president and executive managing director of SBVC. "Many companies have touted ambitious plans to solve the access bottleneck, but we believe Salira's IP/Ethernet-based systems will overcome the problems inhibiting wide deployment of broadband services."

Salira is developing systems that combine the simplicity of Ethernet with the power of optics to provide the first carrier-class, IP/Ethernet optical solution for high-speed broadband access. By setting new standards for performance, scalability and flexibility, the Salira systems address the need for carriers to provide affordable, high-speed broadband access. The recently announced company is led by a world-class team experienced in optical, data and telephony systems that has fundamentally shaped the development of the Internet.

"We believe this investment is a ringing endorsement of our strategy, especially given the difficult state of the capital markets and the uncertain economic climate," added Herbert J. Martin, CEO of Salira. "This funding puts us in a position to deliver products that will enable carriers to provision traditional services like T1, DS3 and DSL more easily, while adding the ability to deliver enhanced services like remote provisioning and dynamic bandwidth allocation."

Salira will use the funding to continue its product development strategy. The company expects to be in customer trials with carriers and enterprise customers early next year.

As a result of this new round of funding, Salira will add a new member to its Board of Directors. Gary Rieschel of SBVC will join a board which consists of current directors Dave House, CEO of Allegro Networks, Gwong-Yih Lee, senior director at Cisco, and K.T. Wan, vice president of Vertex Management. Herbert J. Martin, Salira's CEO, and Wei Gao, Salira's CTO and founder also serve on the board.

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