Top Layer Networks Secures $28 Million
Funding Enables Aggressive Market Expansion and Spurs Innovative Product Development
Westboro, MA – August 20, 2002 – Top Layer Networks, Inc., the leading provider of globally proven network security solutions, today announced that it has received venture capital investment of $28 million. The funding will be used for product development, channel development, and sales and marketing activities.
Led by 3i US (www.3i.com), the Top Layer funding round attracted new investors Investcorp (www.investcorp.com), Wasserstein Ventures (http://www.wasserco.com/ventures/ventures.html) and Westbury Partners (www.westburypartners.com) and existing investors Egan-Managed Capital (www.egancapital.com), Granite Ventures (www.graniteventures.com) and TI Ventures (http://www.ti.com/tiventures).
“Organizations around the world, regardless of their size and marketplace, are rapidly realizing that their networks are the constant target of cyber attacks. These attacks negatively impact network performance and ultimately have a detrimental effect on their business, which has elevated intrusion detection and prevention as a chief concern,” said Ron Brumback, president and CEO of Top Layer Networks. “Our market-proven technology positions us as the leader in intrusion prevention, providing companies with the essential elements for a comprehensive response to the growing number of attacks. We are fortunate to have attracted a strategic investment group that provides much more than capital – most notably a broad global reach – and we look forward to working with our partners to deliver industry-leading products as we aggressively expand worldwide.”
Top Layer utilizes its deep network infrastructure origins and extensive experience in both ASIC and embedded software development to build inline security appliances with the purpose of actively blocking attacks and preventing intrusions. Top Layer’s product offerings currently enable large enterprises worldwide to harden their networks against the growing assault of costly network intrusions. The additional funding enables Top Layer to expedite product development and deliver enhancements to its award-winning products for organizations seeking to improve the effectiveness of their intrusion detection systems and enhance the availability and performance of firewalls.
“Top Layer’s proven technology, management team, and solid customer base throughout the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific were key factors in our decision to invest in the company,” said Mikko Suonenlahti, director with 3i US. “Those strengths, combined with Top Layer’s market strategy and the vast opportunity in the security space, demonstrated that this was a high-growth company to invest in.” Top Layer named J. Sanford Miller and Mikko Suonenlahti of 3i to Top Layer’s board of directors.
“As an international venture capital firm we will leverage our 3-continent network to help Top Layer make the appropriate connections to form strategic partnerships that will support the company’s efforts to expand into additional international markets,” added Sandy Miller, managing director with 3i US.
“Network security represents an extremely attractive growth industry. We believe Top Layer is well positioned in its industry, given its experienced management team, proven technology and sales channels,” said Richard Fuller, Partner at Investcorp Technology Ventures. “Investcorp is committed to leveraging its international presence to help Top Layer fully realize the benefits of its successes to date.”
About Top Layer Networks, Inc.
Since 1997, Top Layer Networks (www.toplayer.com) has delivered proven network security solutions worldwide, enabling enterprises to protect against cyber threats, and scale their infrastructure to meet new, ever increasing security demands. The Company’s intrusion detection and prevention products are built on a patented, ASIC-based architecture. The products are engineered to block high-volume DoS and DDoS attacks, HTTP worms, traffic anomalies and unknown attacks; improve the effectiveness of intrusion detection systems through intelligent balancing and distribution of traffic; and enhance the availability and performance of firewalls through firewall/VPN balancing technology. Top Layer Networks is headquartered in Westboro, Massachusetts with sales and support presence in Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and the United Kingdom.