Topspin Communications Secures $30 Million in Second Round of Funding Infrastructure Startup Tackles Emerging Data Center Virtualization Market

Business Wire, July 17, 2002

Business Editors

Topspin Communications, a startup company focused on the emerging enterprise data center virtualization market, announced today that it has raised $30 Million in its second round of funding. To date, Topspin has secured $47.5 million in venture capital.

This round of funding was led by top tier venture firm Advent International and included existing investors Accel Partners and Redpoint Ventures, along with new investors, Duff Ackerman & Goodrich, and Presidio Venture Partners.

"We are pleased to secure such a strong round of funding." said Krish Ramakrishnan, CEO. "The interest level we have received from investors is a testament to the strength of our data center virtualization strategy. We are addressing the need for a whole new class of data center solutions that enable growth at lower costs by sharing CPU and I/O resources rather than duplicating, isolating, and wasting these precious resources."

Virtualization of the enterprise data center means that "pools" of I/O, storage and processing resources can be shared across applications. This allows data center managers to best match data center resources to changing business needs. The trend to virtualization began in the data center with storage and has grown into a robust Storage Area Networking (SAN) market. The next phase of virtualization requires a unifying virtualization fabric that can seamlessly converge storage, CPU and I/O resources across their underlying Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and InfiniBand networks.

"Today, the ability to scale data centers is determined by how efficiently server resources are deployed and managed," said Phil Dawson, program director at META Group. "Virtualization promises to dramatically reduce both cost and management complexity by requiring fewer servers to accomplish the same task."

"Disaggregating CPU and I/O resources will change the way enterprises look at deploying their servers giving them much finer control over how their resources are allocated," said Greg Smitherman, General Partner with Advent International. "The opportunity to dramatically lower total cost of ownership through data center virtualization is significant and we firmly believe Topspin is strongly positioned to become a leader in this space."

"Topspin has assembled a high caliber team with proven talent in four key areas: server, storage, networking, and applications," said Tom Dyal, Managing Director with Redpoint Ventures. "This unique convergence of skills positions Topspin to lead in the creation of a new category that focuses on data center convergence."

Topspin products have been in customer trials since May of this year.

Greg Smitherman of Advent International joins the Topspin Board of Directors, which includes existing investors from Accel Partners and Redpoint Ventures.

About Topspin

Topspin builds solutions to virtualize the enterprise data center. Our virtualization fabric allows CPU, I/O, and storage resources to be matched dynamically to changing business needs. This helps the data center manager to reduce costs, eliminate waste, and improve application performance. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Topspin has assembled a world class management team and top notch investors, blending together a wealth of experience in the four key technology areas that converge on the enterprise data center--server, storage, networking, and applications. Additional information is available at the company's website www.Topspin.com.

About Accel Partners

Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a history of excellence and innovation in the venture capital business. The firm is dedicated to partnering with outstanding management teams to build world-class networking and software companies. With over $3 billion under management, Accel Partners has a long legacy of helping entrepreneurs build highly successful companies. Accel portfolio companies have completed IPOs that have created well over $100 billion in market capitalization. For more information, visit the Accel Partners web site at www.accel.com.

About Advent International

Advent International is one of the world's largest private equity firms with $6 billion under management and offices in 14 countries across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Since its founding in 1984, Advent has invested in over 500 companies, 128 of which have completed IPOs on major stock exchanges worldwide. In North America, Advent's technology venture capital group invests in high-growth companies in telecommunications equipment, software and services, and enterprise software and solutions. Advent is committed to helping management teams build successful businesses by applying its industry expertise, international resources and local market knowledge. For more information, visit www.adventinternational.com.

About Duff Ackerman & Goodrich

Duff Ackerman & Goodrich LLC is a San Francisco-based private equity fund specializing in early stage communications investments. The firm is staffed by a team of experienced investment professionals dedicated to working with world-class entrepreneurs to lead investments to category dominance. For more information, visit the Duff Ackerman & Goodrich LLC Web site at www.dagllc.com.