Wednesday, March 5, 2003

Cedar Point Secures $25 Million for its Packet-Cable Voice

Cedar Point Communications, a start-up based in Derry, New Hampshire, secured $25 million in new funding for its PacketCable-based, SAFARI C³ Media Switching System. The Cedar Point equipment is an open, standards based, next generation voice switching system for cable system operators. The new funding was led by STAR Ventures and included the participation of first round investors Charles River Ventures, Battery Ventures, Comcast Interactive Capital and Ascent Ventures. The company has raised $44 million to date.
http://www.cedarpointcom.com

  • Cedar Point's SAFARI C³ Media Switching System is a packet cable telephony system that combines attributes of Class 5 voice switches with the elements of distributed VoIP networks. The Cedar Point platform combines a Call Management Server, Media Gateway, Media Gateway Controller, Announcement Server and Signaling Gateway into a single chassis capable of serving up to 100,000 lines.

  • In December 2002, Cedar Point Communications introduced “reverse gateway�? functionality into its single-chassis SAFARI C³ Media Switching System. Reverse gateway functionality enables the handling of both VoIP and circuit switched calls simultaneously on the same packet switch fabric. Al calls, including circuit-to-circuit, circuit-to-packet, packet-to-circuit and packet-to-packet traffic, are handled in the same Cedar Point box. The capability provides a migration strategy for cable operators currently delivering voice services using circuit switched architectures. Cedar Point estimates that there are more than 5 million cable telephony subscribers worldwide currently served by legacy circuit switches.

  • Comcast Interactive Capital made an equity investment in Cedar Point Communications' first round of funding.