Expand Networks Inc., a Roseland, N.J.-based provider of WAN compression and acceleration appliances, has raised $8.5 million in new VC funding. Intel Capital led the round, but Expand did not say which of its existing shareholders also participated.
The company had previously raised over $60 million from firms like America Online, Comcast Interactive Capital, DIC, Federated Kaufman Fund, Omninet Capital, RBC Capital Markets, Tamir Fishman Ventures and Robeco Investment Management.
Expand Networks, www.expand.com, a leading provider of application acceleration solutions over the Wide Area Network (WAN), today announced that it has secured $8.5 million of funding primarily led by Intel Capital and existing investors. The new funding will be used to supplement research and development of Expand's next generation of WAN Accelerators, specifically in the areas of virtualization and VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure), and help finance near-term technological acquisitions.
“We are delighted Intel Capital has led this round of funding which will give us further momentum in the growing WAN Optimization market and our leadership position within it,” said Elie Barr, CEO of Expand Networks. “Market maturity combined with the changing economic climate has transformed WAN Optimization from being 'nice to have' to a 'business necessity' representing a great market opportunity for Expand to attack.”
“The rise of the distributed enterprise has led to an increase in branch offices and the exponential growth of remote and mobile workers demanding access to centralized corporate resources,” said Ashish Patel, managing director of Europe,
About Expand Networks
Expand Networks is the pioneer and leader in the WAN Optimization market and is positioned by Gartner Inc. in the 'Leaders' quadrant in its Magic Quadrant for WAN Optimization Controllers, 2007[i]. Expand helps organizations simplify their IT infrastructure while delivering remote offices fast, reliable and secure access to networked applications. This results in improved user productivity and cost-effective IT management. Expand offers a multi-service integrated platform that ensures superior performance for any application over any network. From its headquarters in Roseland, NJ and its global locations, Expand Networks serves more than 3,500 enterprise and public sector customers in over 100 countries including: American Express, Bacardi USA, BMW, Continental Airlines, Carr America, Colgate, Elizabeth Arden, Reed Exhibitions, Target and United States Department of Defense with over 40,000 units deployed and over 2,000 MS Terminal Services and Citrix customers. Expand is the largest supplier of WAN Optimization products to US Government and Military agencies (greater than 6,000 units) and also has the most units deployed at a single corporate location, (4,500).