InfiniBand Developer Voltaire Gets $13.2M In VC Funding

Voltaire

Executives at Voltaire, based here, said the funding brings investment in the company to a total of $22.5 million. "It's a challenging time for venture funding, but we made it," said Asaf Somekh, director of marketing at Voltaire.

The company expects to release to general availability its first product, an IP-to-InfiniBand router, this quarter, Somekh said.

The router is aimed at removing the overhead incurred by a computer's microprocessor when moving packets of data across IP networks, Somekh said. A server today connected to an IP network via Gigabit Ethernet can get a typical maximum throughput of only about 500 Mbits per second because about 90 percent of the microprocessor's computing capability is focused on TCP/IP overhead, he said.

Voltaire's router, however, encapsulates data into packets and sends them over IP networks while allowing multiple processors or servers to be connected via InfiniBand, which cuts CPU overhead to 10 percent to 15 percent of processing power, Somekh said.

The company's product focus will be initially on server consolidation and on applications such as Oracle's 9i and IBM's DB2 databases, Somekh said.

Future plans call for other products aimed at connecting storage to InfiniBand networks, he said.

The most recent round of founding was lead by Baker Capital and included new investment from Pitango Venture Capital, which also participated in the initial round. Other early investors in the company include Platinum, Tamir Fishman ventures, The Challenge Fund - Etgar L.P., and Quantum Ventures.