Ericsson Acquires Entrisphere for Fiber Access

Ericsson has acquired Entrisphere, a start-up specializing in GPON fiber access technology, for an undisclosed sum. Entrisphere was founded in 2000 and is based in Santa Clara, California. The company employs about 140 people. Its platform is currently in deployment in North America and undergoing trials overseas.

The core of the Entrisphere GPON solution includes Optical Line Terminals (OLTs), Optical Network Terminals (ONTs), Optical Network Units (ONUs) and management systems. The solution also includes software upgrades that expand existing IP service-aware features such as IGMP multicasting, VLAN stacking and tagging, and security upgrades.

Ericsson said the acquisition brings a leading IP based broadband access platform ready for volume deployment compliant with both North American and international standards.

http://www.ericsson.com

http://www.entrisphere.com

• In December 2006, Ericsson acquired Redback Networks for $2.1 billion. Earlier in 2006, Ericsson closed its acquisition of Marconi. This deal, which was valued at US$2 billion when it was announced in October 2005, included Marconi’s optical networking business, Marconi’s broadband and fixed radio access network business, Marconi’s softswitch business, and Marconi’s data networking equipment and services businesses.
• In May 2005, Entrisphere raised $75 million in Series C financing for its network access equipment. The funding was led by VantagePoint Venture Partners and included all of Entrisphere’s existing investment group-Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital, CDP Capital, Crosspoint Venture Partners, Duff Ackerman & Goodrich, El Dorado Ventures, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, and STAR Ventures.
• Entrisphere is headed by Mark Floyd, who previously was a founder of Efficient Networks (acquired by Siemens). The company is based in Santa Clara, California with an office in Plano, Texas.