Network Elements, Inc., the Optical Networking Module (ONMä) company, announced the closing of $77 million in financing. New strategic investors Intel Communications Fund and Nortel Networks have joined Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity and Western Technology Investment in this round, bringing the total funding of Network Elements to $100 million. Previous investor New Enterprise Associates led this round and original seed investor, Alloy Ventures, also participated.
"Network Elements' Optical Networking Modules complement the Intel Internet Exchange Architecture (IXA)," said Mike Ricci, general manager of Intel's Telecom Component Division. "Intel and Network Elements will work together on innovative uses for Intel IXA focusing on increased functionality and speed of optical networking modules."
"We believe the Network Elements' Optical Networking Module products will accelerate the widespread application of 10Gb/s Ethernet and 40Gb/s connectivity," said Tom McConnell, General Partner at New Enterprise Associates.
In September 2000, Network Elements introduced the Optical Networking Module (ONM) product line, the industry's first family of highly integrated 10Gb/s optical networking modules for 10 Gigabit Ethernet equipment, IP switch equipment, SONET/SDH and DWDM termination equipment. These products are designed to be plug-and-play building blocks for the new generation of switches, routers, gateways, servers and network edge devices. Future additions to the ONM family will incorporate long-reach optics, multi-protocol support and increased functionality.
About Network Elements:
Network Elements designs and develops 10Gb/s and 40Gb/s Optical Networking Modules with innovations in high-speed optics, electronics and wire-speed, multi-protocol ASICs.