Blade Closes Second Round Funding, Plans to Grow

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Blade Network Technologies Inc. closed a second round of funding last week and is pursuing a so-called vision to revolutionize high-speed networking for the world’s largest data centers.

 

The latest round of funding – led by NEC Corp. and Juniper Networks Inc. – brings the total value of the company to $230 million.

 

Formed from assets spun out of Nortel (News - Alert) Networks in 2006, Blade Network Technologies is today a front running Silicon Valley maker of networking gear.

 

Under the funding agreement, Hajime Fukuzawa of NEC (News - Alert) will join Blade’s board.

Blade said it will use the investment to accelerate research and development and expand global sales and marketing. The company also announced that it surpassed a six-millionth Ethernet switch port installation milestone despite the challenging global economy.

 

“Since we established Blade Network Technologies as an independent company in 2006, we have achieved impressive growth and an unsurpassed series of technology and industry firsts,” said Vikram Mehta, Blade’s president and CEO. The new investors, he said, will back the company’s vision to revolutionize high-speed networking for the world’s largest data centers.

 

Vikram Mehta established Blade Network Technologies as a division of Nortel in 2002, and spun it out as an independent company with the financial backing of Garnett & Helfrich Capital in February 2006. Through its partnerships with HP, IBM (News - Alert), NEC and Verari Systems, the company has emerged as one of the top 10 providers of 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches.

 

The firm’s customers include more than 300 of the Fortune 500 companies across 26 industry segments.

 

“Blade is well-aligned with Juniper Networks (News - Alert) in our commitment to reduce the total cost of network ownership while providing the high performance, scalability and virtualization required by today’s dynamic data center environments,” said David Yen, executive vice president and general manager, Fabric and Switching Technologies Business Group at Juniper Networks.