Calient Networks, a provider of intelligent, all-photonic switching systems, announced that it has closed a total of $225 million in financing. BlueStream Ventures led the financing, which includes equity investments of over $195 million and lease commitments of up to $30 million.
Strategic investors participating in the round included Juniper Networks, Inc., Marconi, Tellabs and ONI Systems. Also participating were a number of leading financial institutions such as Invesco, American Express Financial Corporation, J&W Seligman & Co., Amerindo Investment Advisors and TeleSoft Partners.
Proceeds from this round will be used to fund Calient's move into commercial release and volume production of the DiamondWave photonic switching system, with first deliveries scheduled for early 2001. The MEMS-based DiamondWave switch is in the midst of completing the first of three phases of interoperability testing with a range of network elements, positioning it to perform dozens of applications in service provider networks.
About Calient Networks:
Calient Networks is a new developer of intelligent, all-photonic switching systems and software that help service providers scale their networks for bandwidth demands and deliver a new generation of wavelength services. Calient's architecture and DiamondWave switching system will provide a seamless, 'opto-electronic-to-photonic' migration path that is non-disruptive to legacy operations.