- 23rd October 2006 -

Mintera funds to accelerate deployments of 40 Gbps optical transmission systems

The Acton, MA, USA, based Mintera Corporation has raised $10m of venture capital financing co-led by investors Polaris Venture Partners and RRE Ventures. Also participating in the round are existing investors including Court Square Ventures, Star Ventures and Portview Communications Partners. This financing brings the total amount raised by Mintera to more than $54m.

Mintera develops and markets 40 Gbps fibre-optic transport sub-systems, for metro-core, regional, long-haul and ultra long-haul optical networks. The company will use the financing to complete the commercial launch of its new, 40 Gbps product platform, the MI 40000XS.

This new platform, based on the emerging ATCA 300 standard, enables 40 Gbps DWDM transport up to 2500 km without regeneration and increases carrier capacity without the need to change existing infrastructure. The MI 40000XS, which is already being integrated into partners' DWDM transport systems, is scheduled to begin shipping during Q4 2006.

Polaris General Partner and Mintera Director Bob Metcalfe said, "Some years have passed since the bursting of the Internet bubble. Since then the carriers have continued growing and have lit a lot of dark fiber. Accelerating broadband deployment among telephone, television, mobile and Internet carriers will require much more optical backbone capacity. Mintera is ready to help move the infrastructure up to 40 Gbps and the best news is that Mintera's 40 Gbps upgrade fits in with existing fibers, optical amplifiers and add-drop multiplexers, and can be used alongside already deployed lower bit-rate transponders."

Web: www.mintera.com/