Teknovus Completes $9 Million B-Round Funding; Samsung and Mitsubishi Corp Come on Board as New Investors

Business Wire, Nov 9, 2004

PETALUMA, Calif. -- Teknovus, Inc., the leading provider of proven triple-play (voice/data/video) broadband-access semiconductor chipsets, today announced the closing of its Series B round of funding at nine million dollars. This investment round was led by Samsung America Ventures and Mitsubishi Corporation, with participation from SUIT Growth Fund and current investors Partech International, U.S. Venture Partners (USVP), and Portview Communications. Teknovus will use this new funding to expand global operations and move to the next level of technology required for fully deployed Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) broadband access.

Teknovus is shipping in volume the only fourth-generation, proven EPON chipset - available today - with the features and performance to enable fast, easy-to-deploy, and low-cost triple-play solutions for fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) at 1000 times the bandwidth of traditional DSL. Telecom carriers and service providers gain the ability to compete against other broadband access providers, such as cable, by offering a broader range of communications and entertainment services that include standard television, HDTV, video on demand, telephony, as well as high-speed data. Telecom carriers expect to enjoy a higher return on investment due to the lower cost of FTTH deployment; easier maintenance; radically lower power usage; and zero-touch software upgrades. Consumers/subscribers win with convenient, simplified, single-source access to these enhanced communications and entertainment services.

Dr. John Cioffi, pioneer of DSL, founder of Amati Communications, and Hitachi America Professor of Engineering at Stanford University stated, "Steady advances continue in fiber optics, which help accelerate the deployment of all of types of broadband access. With its EPON chipset, Teknovus provides a superior architecture for enabling rapid and large-scale deployment of fiber-to-the-node and fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP)." Dr. Cioffi serves on the board of directors for Teknovus.

"This is a very exciting time for the EPON market and for the company. Teknovus has production-proven products, a proven team, and design wins at the top-tier equipment vendors and service providers worldwide. We've been on a fast track for product development and support, yet have spent a relatively small amount of money to date," stated Dr. Rex Naden, president and CEO for Teknovus. "We have two new strategic investors who believe in the vision of fiber-optics networks for broadband access, as well as Teknovus' enabling role for FTTH through our EPON chipset. With Japan and Korea taking the global lead for deployment of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), the participation of market leaders such as Mitsubishi Corporation and Samsung as investors is quite significant."

Dr. Yoshikazu Nose, General Manager of the Semiconductor and Electronic Devices Business Unit, of Mitsubishi Corporation stated, "Fiber-to-the-home is an important broadband-access technology for communications and entertainment of the future. The Teknovus EPON chipset, reference system, and firmware provide proven technology and a fiber optics system for quick and low-cost deployment."

Jay Eum, Managing Director of Samsung Ventures America, stated, "Our strategic investment in Teknovus represents our view of the Teknovus EPON chipset as a fundamental requirement for enabling fiber optical networks to work efficiently for fiber-to-the-home, thus playing a key role in driving the next significant step in broadband access. The Teknovus product is especially important because it is the only EPON chipset that supports all the requirements to provide full IP television services in addition to voice and Internet."

Dr. Naden added, "EPON is the key to massive deployment of fiber-to-the-home. It's an accepted, proven standard that will drive improved and simplified broadband access. This EPON architecture will be the dominant means for delivering triple-play services -- bundled voice, data and video -- over a single network, which in turn enables a new generation of cooperative and strategic partnerships in the communications and entertainment markets."

About Teknovus

Teknovus develops and delivers the only, fourth-generation, proven EPON chipset for fast, easy-to-deploy, and low-cost triple-play (voice, data, video) broadband access via optical fiber networks. The Teknovus EPON chipset is fundamentally changing the way broadband access networks are designed and deployed, including their ability to improve transport capacity, optimize fiber infrastructure, provide management capability, integrate broad service functionality, and reduce the cost of optical access. To learn more about Teknovus, or the company's investors, see www.teknovus.com.