SOMA Networks, a start-up based in San Francisco, secured $50 million in late-stage funding for its broadband wireless platform that is capable of supporting both WiMAX and HSDPA standards. SOMA said the key advantages of the its solution include a large cell size for quick and inexpensive market entry, multi-megabit data rates, voice capabilities, non-line-of-sight access enabling self-installation of its "SOMAport" wireless broadband gateway with subscriber self-activation of services.
SOMA's system consists of SOMA's SoftAir platform, the SOMA macro base station, and the SOMAport subscriber terminal. Both the macro base station and the subscriber terminal leverage general-purpose computing power, giving flexibility and application control to the network. The company says its macro base station serves a typical cell radius of three to five miles in metropolitan deployments and upwards of ten miles in less dense environments, without requiring line-of-sight antenna visibility, and supports thousands of subscribers at a peak data rate of 12 Mbps per user. The base station is configurable up to six sectors in high-availability radio configuration supporting 1:1 frequency reuse. SOMA leverages high-performance Linear Power Amplifier and Low Noise Amplifier subsystems drive redundant main and diversity antennas.
The new funding round was ld by financial investors Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. (Temasek), and Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, and included participation from NeoCarta Ventures, Inc., and Endeavour Investments Limited. This round of $35 million complements $15 million of strategic financing SOMA Networks closed in late 2004.
http://www.somanetworks.com/
- Over the past six years, SOMA Networks has raised more than $120 million from institutions such as Allen & Co., Inc., Angel Investors, L.P., Mizuho, Sharp Corporation, Signal Lake Venture Fund, LLP, and Technology Gateway Partnership, L.P., and from individual investors, including Ben Rosen, co-founder of Compaq Computer Corp.
- SOMA Networks was founded by Yatish Pathak, who previously served in in Cellular Infrastructure Division of Lucent Technologies/Bell Laboratories.
