October 25, 2011 — Photonic switch maker CALIENT Technologies Inc. raised a $19.4 million round of venture financing, bringing in new and existing investors, to expand into data center and cloud computing markets and ramp its new portfolio of 3D micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) photonic switching systems and modules for OEMs and system integration partners.
CALIENT is using these funds to respond to market demand for high bandwidth communications in new markets, said Atiq Raza, chairman and CEO of CALIENT, calling out data centers and cloud computing networks as "exciting new opportunities" with "unprecedented growth in server deployments." The new family of modular photonic switching systems and subsystems target enterprise and cloud data centers, as well as subsea cable and government networks.
Also read: Is telecom ready to embrace MEMS-based solutions?
CALIENT is pursuing the new applications sectors with better power efficiency, more modularity in a smaller form factor, and lower cost switches based on its 3D optical MEMS technology. The MEMS mirrors are fabricated using proprietary deep-silicon plasma etch. CALIENT designs and fabricates its systems using the state of art optical MEMS equipment at its corporate headquarters in Santa Barbara, CA. The scalable capacity helps networks grow in speed from 10Gbps to 40Gbps and 100Gbps.
Photonics switches reconfigure high-bandwidth connectivity within and between data center sites to support time-of-day or instantaneous demand variations, or disaster recovery scenarios.
CALIENT Technologies provides 3D MEMS adaptive photonic switches for content networks. For more information, visit at www.calient.net.