Israeli startup Sedona Systems, which offers a software-based multivendor control platform for service provider IP/optical layer convergence, has closed a $13.6 million Series B funding round. Intel Capital led the round and was joined by NextStar as a new investor and previous investor Bessemer Venture Partners.
Yair Shoham of Intel will join Sedona's board of directors as a result of the company's investment. Sedona will use the new funds to accelerate global sales of its NetFusion platform and to support R&D to broaden the company's product portfolio. The company has now raised $19.6 million.
NetFusion is designed to leverage software-defined networking (SDN) principles to coordinate control of the IP and optical layers of service provider networks. It can automatically create a live map of all traffic paths and cross-connections within the two layers, regardless of the number of hardware vendors represented. The platform then enables execution of multilayer apps for such functions as maintenance, automatic optimization, network restoration, and on-demand service provision.
"Service provider networks are going through a generational change," said Yossi Wellingstein, Sedona's CEO. "Software and virtualization have become crucial tools in facing the tidal wave of demand for network services. Sedona helps service providers rise to the challenge by using software to fuse the hitherto separate optical and IP layers into one agile and flexible network."
"As networks become more software-centric, converging management and control for multilayer transport functions becomes key to drive opex and capex efficiencies," said John Healy, general manager of Intel's Software Defined Networking Division. "Sedona's Netfusion software offers agility, intelligence, and efficiencies that can help enable service providers to optimize their optical and IP networks."
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