Optranet Closes First Round of Funding for Optical Access Equipment

PLEASANTON, Calif., Sept. 14 -- Optranet, a developer of products for the broadband access market, has ended its first round of funding with $6.7 million. The first order of business for the company will be to develop optical access equipment for the commercial multiple tenant units (MTU) market. Norwest Venture Partners, a venture capital business partner for start-up IT companies, led the round of funding.
Optranet is initially targeting a largely untapped segment of the networking market and is the first company to design networking equipment specifically for nearly 70 percent of businesses worldwide that reside in MTUs, said Promod Haque, managing partner for Norwest Venture Partners. Norwest identified a great opportunity in Optranet with its seasoned management team poised to make a huge impact on the market with specialized technology.
Opranet's optical equipment will enable service providers to light up about 10 million miles of in-building telephone lines with Ethernet and IP-based broadband services.