Accedian Networks Raises $19.5M in Growth Equity Funding Led by Summit Partners

Financing will Support Accedian Network’s Continuing Worldwide Commercial Expansion

MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Accedian Networks™— the industry-leading provider of High Performance Service Assurance™ solutions for Carrier Ethernet and IP networks—announces that it has secured $19.5 million in a round of financing led by Summit Partners, a growth equity firm with offices in Boston, Palo Alto and London. Rho Ventures and Skypoint Capital, existing investors in Accedian, participated in the round as well. The funds raised will primarily be used to accelerate Accedian’s commercial efforts and support its continuing global market share expansion, as evidenced by four years of 100%-plus, year-over-year growth and profitability.

“Revenue from specialized Ethernet access devices (EADs), which are typically not routers or switches, but designed with demarcation and OAM functions to deliver E-LINE and E-LAN services, is expected to more than triple from 2009 to 2014.”

“The rapid increase of mobile device usage and network traffic has left carriers struggling to meet consumer demand and service level agreements, with the backhaul function representing a notable bottleneck on most networks,” said Tom Jennings, a Managing Director at Summit Partners who has joined the company’s board of directors. “Accedian is well-positioned as the market leader with state-of-the-art network interface devices (NIDs) that provide the highest performance optimization and assurance functionality. As a long-time investor in communications technology companies, we’re pleased to support such a strong team of entrepreneurs who have built a rapidly growing and profitable company that’s poised for significant expansion.”

Since inception, Accedian has sold over 55,000 platforms to over 150 service providers and enterprise customers world-wide. To continue supporting the profitable expansion of its world-wide commercial operations, Accedian is investing to grow its global sales force, as well as its product development, marketing, and administrative support organizations. These additions will support the company’s rapidly growing customer base of international telecommunications service providers, multi–system cable operators (MSOs) and mobile operators throughout the U.S., Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.

Infonetics Research^© in its Carrier Ethernet Equipment Biannual Market Size, Share, and Forecasts Report (April 2010), forecasts that carrier Ethernet equipment revenues will increase from the $21.6 billion globally invested by service providers in 2009, to over $32 billion in 2014. The research report also indicates that “Revenue from specialized Ethernet access devices (EADs), which are typically not routers or switches, but designed with demarcation and OAM functions to deliver E-LINE and E-LAN services, is expected to more than triple from 2009 to 2014.”

“Today, Carrier Ethernet business service delivery, wholesale access and Ethernet wireless backhaul networks require automated Ethernet service creation and high-performance service assurance solutions,” said Patrick Ostiguy, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Accedian Networks. “With accelerating market demand, we believe Accedian is well-positioned to capitalize on this tremendous opportunity with real-world products and solutions that are in constant evolution. The strategic investment made by Summit Partners is a resounding validation of our vision, technological expertise, and capability to service this market.”

About Summit Partners

Summit Partners (http://www.summitpartners.com) is a growth equity investor that provides private equity and venture capital to rapidly growing companies. Founded in 1984, Summit has raised more than $11 billion in capital and has provided growth equity, recapitalization and management buyout financing to more than 300 growing companies across a range of industries and geographies. Summit Partners seeks outstanding management teams that have built their companies to market leadership. Summit’s notable investments in the communications technology sector include Commnet Wireless, E-TEK Dynamics, Hittite Microwave Corporation and Finisar Corporation.

About Accedian Networks

Founded in 2004, Accedian Networks™ is an industry-leading, global provider of High Performance Service Assurance ™ solutions for Carrier Ethernet and IP networks. Today, Accedian Networks is recognized world-wide for its level of expertise at engineering real-world service creation and high-speed, high-performance service assurance solutions for business Ethernet, Ethernet mobile backhaul, wholesale access, and carrier to carrier exchange services. The Company’s flagship products include the high-performance, hardware-based EtherNID^® and MetroNID^® demarcations units, and the MetroNODE 10GE™ aggregation node. Combined, these solutions enable service providers to deliver end-to-end, standards-based Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM)—required to meet demanding service level agreements (SLAs)—over converged multi-technology and multi-provider networks. Accedian’s products and solutions are deployed by a global customer base that includes telecommunications providers, cable MSOs and mobile operators offering carrier-grade, packet-based applications.

Accedian Networks is a privately held company headquartered in Montreal, Canada, with regional offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia. For additional information, please visit: www.accedian.com, or call 1-866-685-8181 or [phone].

Accedian, EtherNID, MetroNID, MetroNODE 10GE, SLA-meter, Performance Assurance Agent, PAA, Multi-SLA, Ether-PRO, EtherSHELF, Ethernet Service Assurance Platform (ESAP), EVC-Builder, Plug & Go, “Packet Performance Assurance”, “Delivering Service Performance with Assurance”, “Map-out the Health of your Network”, Vision EMS and SLA Radar are trademarks of Accedian Networks Inc.