TOLLBRIDGE TECHNOLOGIES RAISES $45 MILLION IN MEZZANINE ROUND OF FINANCING
Funds Will Be Used to Expand Business Across Full Spectrum of Broadband Media<SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 13, 2000 - TollBridge Technologies, the leading developer of high-quality voice-over-broadband solutions for a new generation of carriers, today announced that it has secured an additional $45 million in mezzanine financing from major venture capital firms, telecommunications companies, and corporate investors. TollBridge will use the funds to fuel its leadership position and continued growth in the broadband access voice-over-DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and cable markets. This mezzanine round of funding, completed in February brings the total amount of capital that TollBridge has raised to date to $70 million. Meritech Capital Partners led the round of funding and was joined by TeleSoft Partners, a venture capital fund who has carrier alliances with ALLTEL (USA), Mannesmann (Germany), and Vivendi (France), along with new corporate partner LSI Logic, as well as investors from earlier rounds, Communications Ventures Partners, Matrix Partners, WorldView Technology Partners, and Sutter Hill Ventures. "Meritech is very excited to support TollBridge at this significant point in the Company's expansion. We believe the carrier-grade architecture, the cost competitiveness and particularly the best-in-industry toll-quality voice and density of the TollVoice system positions TollBridge as the clear leader in the VoDSL market," said Mike Gordon of Meritech Capital Partners. "We are delighted to partner with Tollbridge. The market opportunity for VoDSL is just emerging. I believe Tollbridge's multi-technology architecture supporting IP, ATM and NCS, together with its management team, positions the company to dominate the DSL, cable and wireless voice-over-broadband networks," said Arjun Gupta, founder of TeleSoft Partners. "In a very short period of time, Tollbridge has already established itself as a leader in the high-growth Voice over DSL space," said John Daane, LSI Logic executive vice president of the Communications Products Group. "LSI Logic is actively seeking leading-edge technology companies that compete in the global communications market for strategic equity investments. We are looking forward to the continuation of our productive relationship with Tollbridge, one of the first customers for our ZSP digital signal processor standard product." Cork hôtels"TollBridge welcomes Meritech, Telesoft, and LSI Logic to its list of investors and strategic partners. These new investments and relationships will allow us to further expand the scope of our product offerings and the extent of our market penetration. Innovative next-generation telecommunications carriers need a strategy and a product solution suitable to a full range of broadband media," said Gary Tauss, founder, president and CEO, TollBridge Technologies. The TollBridge solution allows CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers) to reach the over seven million small businesses in the U.S. that collectively spent $46 billion in 1998 for voice and data services. Carriers can integrate the TollBridge solution without making any changes to their existing network infrastructures, with the benefits of quick time to market and high return on investment. TollBridge is the only voice-over-broadband company that has shipped product and currently has implementations running with two regional CLECs and more than twenty deployments currently in trial. About TollBridge Solutions
Designed to let providers bypass Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) to deliver voice services over any broadband access technology, the TollBridge product set consists of three elements: - ERROR MSGThe TB50, an Integrated Access Device (IAD) that converts voice samples from multiple calls into packets and prioritizes voice and data traffic for transmission over any broadband access network
- The TB200, a carrier-grade Local Exchange Gateway that translates packets back into voice and connects to Class 5 switches using the Telcordia GR-303 protocol and new, emerging protocols such as the Segment Interface protocol (SIP) and Media Gateway Control Point (MGCP)
- The TollViewTMdiscount hotels in Blankenberge Management Suite, a management system that includes a graphical Element Management System (EMS) for end-to-end configuration, troubleshooting, and performance management of up to 100 TB200 systems from HP OpenViewTMZimmer Tartu on SUN SolarisTM platforms
About TollBridge Technologies
Founded in March 1998 and located in Santa Clara, Calif., TollBridge Technologies is the leading provider of voice-over-broadband solutions to a new generation of carriers. TollBridge solutions change the economics of delivering voice services by allowing carriers that own Class 5 switches to use broadband access technologies, such as DSL or cable, to bypass the Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) and deliver toll-quality voice and integrated data services. TollBridge and TollVoiceTM are trademarks of TollBridge Technologies, Inc. All other service marks and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
