Mellanox’s gradual switch to Optical Switching

4 June, 2013

Three weeks after it announced the acquisition of the Silicon Photonics developer Kotura for $82 million, Mellanox closed a merger agreement with the optical interconnect innovator IPtronics for $47.5 million in cash

Mellanox has developed a building blocks strategy that includes both technologies in a unified solution

During the past month Mellanox Technologies from Yoqneam, Israel, have made two bold moves from its current position as an Infiniband and Ethernet interconnect provider, into fast optical switching arena.

Today the company announced its intent to acquire IPTronics A/S from Denmark. Mellanox and IPTronics have signed a definitive agreement under which Mellanox will acquire IPTronics at a total cash purchase price of approximately $47.5 million. Mellanox wants to have all the building blocks that enables it to deliver complete end-to-end optical interconnect solutions at 100Gb/s and beyond.

From the company presentation: How Mellanox, IPtronics and Kotura technologies will be embedded togather
From the company presentation: How Mellanox, IPtronics and Kotura technologies will be embedded togather

IPtronics is strategically focused on optical interconnects and active copper interconnect solutions for the communications market. It offers low power Multichannel Vertical Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) Drivers, Modulator Drivers (MD) and Transimpedance Amplifiers. This technology bridges the gap between optical and electrical interfaces and enables system providers to overcome the physical constraints of using copper-based connections in high-speed interfaces and backplanes, at 100Gbps and beyond.

Following the completion of the deal, Mellanox expects to establish its first R&D center in Europe at IPtronics’ current location in Roskilde, Denmark.

This announcement came only 3 weeks after the company revealed proposed acquisition of Kotura from SUNNYVALE, CA, for approximately $82 million in cash. Kotura develops advanced silicon photonics optical interconnect technology for high-speed networking applications.

With over 120 granted or pending patents in CMOS photonics and packaging design, Kotura has made a number of ground breaking innovations in optical interconnects by integrating multiple high speed active and passive optical functions onto a silicon chip.

“We believe that silicon photonics is an important component in the development of 100 Gigabit InfiniBand and Ethernet solutions, and that owning and controlling the technology will allow us to develop the best, most reliable solution for our customers,” said Eyal Waldman, president, CEO and chairman of Mellanox Technologies.

In fact, these two acquisitions were carefully orchestrated, since Mellanox has developed a building blocks strategy that includes both technologies in a unified solution. Today the company distributed a presentation that introduce future interconnect product, that includes Mellanox’s, IPtronics’s and Kotura’s technologies combined together in a future single communication board.

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