BTI Photonic Systems, a supplier of microWDM (wavelength division multiplexing) optical network technology for gigabit services, announced it has received a $12 million investment led by an undisclosed, new US-based private equity investor. The series D round also included existing investors Vengrowth Private Equity Partners, BDC Venture Capital, GrowthWorks Capital, Kodiak Venture Partners, Primaxis Technology Ventures and Lucent Venture Partners. BTI said the funding round was driven to support the market for microWDM solutions to deliver high-bandwidth video and that it will use the funding to suppport expansion of its global channel partners, to further develope its Netstender microWDM platform, and for sales and marketing. BTI is the provider of Netstender 2060, a microWDM 2U system, which it said enables service providers to build an easy-to-manage, scalable, protocol-independent converged network with lower transport costs than traditional systems while maximizing the use of fiber assets. The company also announced it has appointed Gregory Koss as its executive chairman. Koss was formerly CEO of Internet Photonics, a spinout of Bell Labs that developed carrier-grade Optical Ethernet and was sold to Ciena in 2004. Koss was previously CEO of Sonoma Systems, which was sold to Nortel in 2000. “With BTI’s strong foundation of partners and customers, plus the next phase of capital spending shifting to the network edge, we are very excited about the opportunities for our company,” said Lance Laking, president and CEO of BTI Photonics.For more information, visit: www.btiphotonics.com