Infotech Lead America: Intel Capital has invested in Big Switch Networks, a provider of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) product suite.
Intel Capital’s investment is part of the company’s Series B funding. The Series B funding is after Big Switch Networks shipping the first platform independent Open SDN product suite, including network virtualization and network monitoring applications, in 2012.
“Dramatic changes in enterprise and service provider data center networks require novel networking architectures and products,” said Guido Appenzeller, CEO and co-founder of Big Switch Networks.
Apart from Intel Capital, investors including Goldman Sachs, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and others also participated in the funding, bringing the total amount raised to date to over $45 million.
“Data center operators need programmable and cost effective merchant silicon-based networking architectures to meet their data center economic and operational objectives,” said Bryan Wolf, managing director of Intel Capital.
Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than $10.8 billion in over 1,276 companies in 54 countries. In that timeframe, 201 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 317 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2012, Intel Capital invested $352 million in 150 investments with approximately 57 percent of funds invested outside North America.
