by Mardi Balgochian Scalise
Making their major debut at this year's OFC show, Onix Microsystems (Richmond, CA) was founded in October 1998 to develop and manufacture all optical switching products for communications networks. In addition to showcasing their newest products, the company also announced a $70 million financing round used for equity and debt financing.
JK&B led the round, with participation from Alliance Select Investors, Essex Private Placement Fund, Millennium Technology Ventures, Randolph Street Partners, Sinwave Venture Capital Limited, Trust Company of the West and Zimmer Lucas Partners. Analog Devices Inc. has also participated in the round as a strategic investor. Previous investors include Bank of America Venture Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures and Azure Capital Partners.
In addition to raising $50 million in equity investment, Onix secured a $20 million equipment loan agreement with Western Technology Investments, Silicon Valley Bank and GATX Ventures Inc.
With a solid financial base, Onix has moved forward to develop the first in a series of building block products. The Passport 8x8 Optical Switching Engine is a small form factor optical switching component for applications in network protection restoration. It is fully configurable, bi-directional, nonblocking, protocol independent optical switch. Passport is suited for wavelength selective cross connect, reconfigurable add-drop multiplexing, dynamic network provisioning, protection and restoration, and remote network monitoring.
The Transport Optical Switching Engine family forms the core for next generation optical switches and cross connects. It features high port count (256 to 4000) all-optical switching engines for both the long haul and metro markets. Powered by Onix�s proprietary 3D engines, it provides transparent optical switching and features extremely low insertion loss, small footprint, redundant control systems and low operating power. Transport serves current bandwidth requirements, and Onix will scale seamlessly to >1K x 1K ports in the future.
Watch for more from Onix Microsystems, including their three-dimensional system that will begin shipping later this year. For more information, visit Onix Microsystems at OFC in Booth 2792, or visit www.onixmicrosystems.com.