Expand Networks gets $8.5M from Intel Capital

WAN solutions provider Expand Networks has secured $8.5 million of funding primarily led by Intel Capital and existing investors. The funding will be used to supplement R&D of Expand's next generation WAN accelerators, specifically in the areas of virtualization and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). It will also be used to help finance near-term technological acquisitions.

"We are delighted Intel Capital has led this round of funding, which will give us further momentum in the growing WAN Optimization market," said Elie Barr, CEO of Expand Networks. "Market maturity combined with the changing economic climate has transformed WAN Optimization from being 'nice to have' to a 'business necessity' representing a great market opportunity for Expand to attack."

Notes Ashish Patel, managing director of EMEA, Intel Capital: "The rise of the distributed enterprise has led to an increase in branch offices and the exponential growth of remote and mobile workers demanding access to centralized corporate resources. This places pressure on WAN infrastructures to overcome disruptive latency issues in order to support an enterprise's mobile computing strategy; our investment in Expand Networks will help them tackle these pressure issues and address a fast growing market opportunity."