Ottawa, Canada—Thursday, January 16, 2003 // BTI Photonic Systems., a provider of innovative new optical transport link systems, today announced the closing of its series B financing round, raising $10.4 million US.
The financing round was led by VenGrowth Capital Partners Inc., and included existing investors BCE Capital, Kodiak Venture Partners, Lucent Venture Partners, and Primaxis Technology Ventures. This brings BTI's total funds raised to-date to $20.4 million US.
"As a new investor, VenGrowth is excited to have the opportunity to lead this investment and help take BTI to the next level," said Pat DiPietro, general partner, VenGrowth Capital Partners Inc. "BTI's excellent management team and technology group quickly adapted to the significant opportunities that continue to emerge in optical networking despite the market conditions. Their sharp focus on results combined with flawless execution and deep customer relationships have strongly positioned them for success in the metro and regional optical networking space."
Funds from this latest round will support the commercial launch of the company's leading edge Optical Link System (OLS) technology, and accelerate the growth of a strong sales and marketing presence in North America, Europe and Asia.
"BTI's most recent funding is a testament to the company's ability to turn a difficult market environment to its advantage. By re-inventing itself, the company found a way to not only survive but also flourish in the regional metro area network space," said Ilan Carmi, partner, Kodiak Venture Partners. "BTI's management team is exemplary of those Kodiak partners with: quick, nimble domain experts dedicated to building world-class organizations."
BTI offers the first independent solution to address the need for agile link capabilities in DWDM and CWDM networks. The OLS fundamentally improves how links will be deployed and remotely managed in optical networks. BTI's OLS replaces older fixed link designs with a flexible, intelligent and fully integrated link system.
"BTI has rapidly and successfully adapted to a real market need with the Optical Link System," said Lance Laking, president and CEO, BTI. "Our technology offers a completely new level of seamless integration and cost savings for system vendors and their carrier customers. The support we've received from our customers, technology partners and investors re-affirms the strong value we provide to the metro regional networking space."
The OLS extends the reach and capabilities of system vendors' existing and planned metro network products, without having to design individual solutions for each customer requirement. Both system vendors and carriers appreciate the OLS's ability to upgrade installed systems, making the link, and the network, more flexible and cost-effective. System vendors and carriers benefit from the ability to monitor and configure the link from end-to-end via the OLS's industry standard software interfaces.
BTI is an innovative designer and manufacturer of optical transport link systems that extend the reach of metro optical networks. The company's fully integrated Optical Link System (OLS) is the smallest and most cost-effective way for system vendors to offer their customers the next generation of performance and control within static or dynamic optical links. Specializing in link transport, BTI's professional services and application engineering teams help system vendors design and deploy customer optimized links faster and more efficiently than ever before. Further information is available at: www.btiphotonics.com
For more information, please contact:
Danny Sullivan or Kirsten Gartenburg
inmedia Public Relations Inc.
T. 613-234-7227
dsullivan@inmedia.com
or
Sarah Bowden
BTI Photonic Systems
T. 613-248-9154 x115
media@btiphotonics.com
