June 24, 2002 – BOSTON — Passave Inc., a leading developer of high performance, cost efficient, silicon solutions for fiber based broadband access networks, announced today that it has raised $7.2 million in its first institutional financing round.
The funding is earmarked for product development and initial marketing of Passave’s innovative silicon solution for Ethernet Passive Optical Networks (EPONs).
Participants in this round include BRM Capital, Eurofund and Walden Israel, as well as several respected private investors including Mr. Ray Stata, founder and Chairman of Analog Devices. Menashe Ezra, Managing Director at BRM Capital noted, “In the last mile of communication networks, access is the final bottleneck that needs to be resolved. While xDSL technologies provide an adequate solution in the short term, we are confident that only FTTH technologies in general, and EPON in particular, will be capable of meeting the future demand for bandwidth in an economic manner.”
Broadband fiber access networks are expected to deliver a wide variety of high bandwidth services to both homes and small and medium businesses. Passave’s low-cost silicon solutions support emerging IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet in the First Mile standards. Passave has been active in helping define the IEEE 802.3ah standard since its inception, and is a founding member of the Ethernet in the First Mile Alliance (EFMA).