December 22, 2008 -- Solarflare Communications, a provider of standard-compliant 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) silicon, announced that it has secured a new $32 million round in equity financing, which includes support from Oak Investment Partners, Acacia Capital, Anthem Venture Partners and others. In addition, the company will close $12 million in venture debt financing associated with the equity round.
Solarflare has been shipping its second-generation 10GBASE-T PHY product for switch and server customers, including original design manufacturers (ODMs), since December 3, 2008. In addition, the company has been shipping its low power 10GbE vNIC controller chip since February 2007. The company says it will use the new funding to ramp the manufacturing of its 10GBASE-T PHY product to support the forthcoming launch dates of its switch and server customers.
"This environment is the most difficult I have ever seen for financing new companies," comments Charles Cotton, investor and member of the board of directors, Solarflare Communications. "Any company not engaged in a large market with clear leadership in technology and products will not survive. Solarflare's ability to raise this significant sum of money during today's financial uncertainty demonstrates the strong confidence the board and investors have in the company's ability to execute and grow its business."
"We are the only company shipping both 10GBASE-T PHYs and 10GbE controllers," adds Russell Stern, chief executive officer of Solarflare. "The 10GbE market is now in a rapid transition to 10GBASE-T connections over twisted-pair copper. Our transceiver's very low power enables low-cost, high-density switches and multiport server adapters. With less than half the competitors' power consumption and at least one to two silicon nodes ahead, this financing will secure Solarflare's position as the leader in the next generation of Ethernet infrastructure silicon and software."
On the Web:
www.solarflare.com