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Andover-based optical switch maker Polatis Inc. has raised $8 million in its second round of venture funding and added CEO Gerald Wesel and senior advisor Niel Ransom to its board of directors.
The new funding brings the company’s total raised to $13 million since 2007. The latest financing was provided by existing investors, including 3i Ventures, Alta-Berkeley Ventures, DFJ Esprit, Flagship Ventures, Gainesborough & Peponi Investments, JK&B Partners and Massachusetts Technology Development Corp.
Polatis was formed in 2005 when Billerica-based optical components maker Continuum Photonics Inc. merged with British optical switch maker Polatis Ltd. The company came together with the aim of developing an all-optical switch for the transport layer of networks that will help enterprise and telecommunications network managers shift from copper to all-fiber networks.
Polatis launched its largest-scale switch earlier this year, capable of handling 80 fibers per switch, as opposed to its previous version, which worked with 32 fibers. The boxes can also be configured together, allowing for carrier-grade scalability, according to CEO Wesel, the former chairman and CEO of Merrimack, N.H.-based Ellacoya Networks Inc. (acquired by Lexington’s Arbor Networks Inc. last year) and founder of Boxborough’s Agile Networks Inc. (acquired by Lucent Technologies Inc. in 1996).
The addition of Ransom to the Polatis board brings a well-known industry name to the company. Ransom is a veteran of Bell Laboratories and Bell South, and most recently held the position of CTO at Alcatel (now Alacatel-Lucent).
As of March of 2009, Polatis employed 80 people.
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