Calient Technologies Inc., a specialist in photonic switching, has raised $19.4 million in venture financing from new and existing internal investors. The company will use the funding to expand into data center and cloud computing markets and to finalize development of its new portfolio of 3-D microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) photonic switching systems and modules for original equipment manufacturers and system integration partners. With the financing, Calient will bring to market a new family of modular photonic switching systems and subsystems targeted for enterprise and cloud data centers as well as for existing applications such as subsea cable and government networks. In these applications, Calient’s switches provide highly scalable, almost futureproof, capacity as networks grow in speed from 10 Gb/s to 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s, said the company. The new product line will be more modular, power-efficient and lower in cost, making it possible for the company to pursue new markets and to enable other networking vendors to embed photonic switching into their systems. “There are many new trends as a result of the demand for high-bandwidth applications, and we are now in a position to take advantage of these opportunities and grow our business. Data centers and cloud computing networks in particular are exciting new opportunities for us due to the unprecedented growth in server deployments and the resulting explosion of bandwidth requirements,” said Atiq Raza, chairman and CEO of Calient Technologies. For more information, visit: www.calient.net