Start-up Atrica and KVH Telecom Co. Ltd. of Japan today announced that KVH has deployed Atrica's carrier-class optical Ethernet systems to support its new Ethernet service offering.
The new service combines the reliability of leased lines with the flexibility of a wide-area Ethernet service to deliver advanced voice, video, and data services to the Tokyo metro area and other selected areas of Japan.
KVH's Ether-MAN Plus service is enabled by Ethernet over Multi Protocol Label Switching (EoMPLS), a technology supported by Atrica's optical Ethernet systems that improves traffic engineering, fault management, and scalability in large-scale Ethernet networks.
KVH Telecom is an integrated communications and IT management service provider offering broadband data, Internet access, voice, and data center solutions to business customers.
KVH Telecom was established in Tokyo in 1999 by the Fidelity Group, the world's largest independent financial services company.
Atrica was founded in 2000 to address the needs of service providers by extending Ethernet to metro networks. The company obtained early stage funding from 3Com, Benchmark Capital and Accel Partners. The second round of financing, held in 2001, included France Telecom, SBC Communications, Telia, Bezeq and BellSouth Corporation.
In February 2002, the company closed a third round of financing. Vesbridge Partners led the round, which also included JK&B Capital, Investor Growth Capital, Saturn Venture Partners (an affiliated fund of Telecom Italia), Gemini Israel Funds L.P. Ltd, Lehman Brothers, Part'com, Challenge Fund, Young Associates, Triton Ventures, CDIB and Hotung, as well as first and second round investors Benchmark Capital, Accel Partners, Ascend Technology Ventures, SBC Communications (via AurumSBC Ventures) and France Telecom (via Innovacom).
The company is based in Santa Clara, California, with R&D facilities in Israel and business development and sales offices in Paris, France.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on Thursday, July 29, 2004