FEBRUARY 19, 2008 -- IPtronics A/S (search for IPtronics), supplier of silicon for parallel optical applications, has closed more than $10 million in series B funding. Creandum and Sunstone Capital co-lead the investment round. Also contributing to the round was current investor 10IPT10, as well as members of the management team. IPtronics says the funding will be used to accelerate global sales and product development.
IPtronics supplies integrated circuits to the emerging market for parallel optical interconnects, a market forecasted to replace electrical high-speed connections in next-generation computer systems and storage networks.
Founded in 2003 by a group of former Giga A/S and Intel Corp. managers, IPtronics says it has developed a chip technology that enables low cost, low power, and small size optical interconnect equipment that computer manufactures will adopt in next-generation systems to overcome the physical constraints from using copper-based connections over high-speed interfaces and backplanes.
"We have known many of the people behind IPtronics since the Giga/Intel days, and we are convinced that this team has what it takes to build a truly global company," contends Jimmy Fussing Nelson, managing partner of Sunstone Capital Technology Ventures. "Parallel optical interconnect is a market at the verge of the point of inflection, and IPtronics is well positioned to become a market leader," he says.
Martin Hauge, general partner at Creandum, adds that IPtronics has already demonstrated "significant revenue growth" and is engaged with customers both in the U.S. and in Japan. "As manufacturers of computer systems, storage networks, and mobile phones increasingly are looking at lower power consumption while increasing connectivity capacity, IPtronics has a very interesting position as leading supplier in this field," he maintains.
"Power consumption is the paramount challenge for higher speed electrical interconnects, and here optical interconnects play a potential vital role in the next-generation computer systems," explains IPtronics CEO Niels Finseth. "IPtronics holds the key technology to enable this market. I am excited that we are now able to further accelerate growth by expanding our capabilities and organization to take full advantage of the market opportunity."
IPtronics says it is already supplying a four-channel product to leading customers in the industry; this chipset lowers the power consumption of optical interconnections by a factor of four, claim company representatives. Furthermore, IPtronics says it will be sampling a new low-power 12-channel chip set during 2008. IPtronics will exhibit at next week's OFC conference in San Diego in booth #3720.
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