ishoni receives $9m in second round of funding

BANGALORE: ishoni Networks, a developer of broadband communication gateway

technology, has announced that it has raised $9 million in a second round of

funding from Lucent Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Infinity

Capital L.L.C. Information Technology Ventures and Invesco. To date, the company

has raised $18 million, through two rounds of financing.

"ishoni is leading the way in developing technology for the growing

broadband gateway market, in particular the company's integrated gateway

platform, which provides easy voice and Internet services over a single

broadband connection," said Neil Vasant, partner at Lucent Venture

Partners.  "The investment from Lucent Venture Partners further

validates ishoni's vision and unique product roadmap," said ishoni Networks

chief executive officer Prakash Bhalerao. "The funds raised in this latest

round will enable further development of our product line, seed future expansion

for the company and accelerate our sales and marketing activities."

ishoni Networks is developing an integrated broadband gateway platform from

which Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) can build gateway products that

provide voice, security and Internet services over a single broadband

connection. Ishoni's broadband gateway silicon and software allows customers to

combine high speed "always on" Internet access with voice service,

local area networking and media-rich content over a single connection. ishoni's

gateway silicon and software will also enable service providers to generate

revenue by offering new bundled services over broadband to millions of

subscribers.

According to Cahner's In-Stat the broadband gateway market is expected to

grow to $2.4 billion by 2003. Dataquest reports that as of July 1999 there were

2.8 million broadband lines deployed in the U.S. with an expected growth to 15.2

million by 2003, including 9.9 million xDSL connections and 5.3 million

high-speed cable connections.