Silicon Access Networks

Silicon Access Networks Inc. was a communications semiconductor company established in 1997, positioning itself in the high-speed networking sector. The firm, originally named Silicon Access Technology Inc., rebranded to better reflect its focus on developing chipsets for programmable 10-gigabit-per-second OC192 line cards, aiming to facilitate the emergence of the terabit router market. The company operated as a fabless semiconductor entity, with its headquarters in San Jose, California, and maintained R&D facilities in Ottawa, Ontario, and a design team in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The company's core business revolved around providing a complete Data Path Processing Platform (DP3) solution, known as the iFlow platform. This product suite was designed for wide area, metropolitan, and enterprise switching and routing applications. The iFlow chipset included processors and co-processors for handling tasks such as deep-packet inspection, address lookup, billing, statistics, and packet classification at high speeds. Specifically, the platform comprised the iFlow Packet Processor (iPP), iFlow Address Processor (iAP), iFlow Classifier (iCL), and iFlow Accountant (iAC), capable of supporting speeds up to 20-Gbps and line card speeds up to 40-Gbps. Its target clients were top-tier equipment manufacturers and internet service providers who required high-performance packet processing for terabit edge routers in environments like internet peering centers.

Under the leadership of President and CEO Perry Constantine, Silicon Access Networks secured significant financial backing from a wide array of prominent venture capital firms. Over its lifespan, the company raised at least $124 million in funding. A notable funding round brought in $39 million, co-led by Soros Private Equity Partners and Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from investors like the Sprout Group, Tallwood Venture Capital, and Synopsys. Intel Communications Fund was also listed as an equity investor. Despite its substantial funding and product development, the company faced challenges, leading to the layoff of its Raleigh design team in the summer of 2002.

Keywords: communications semiconductor, fabless semiconductor, data path processing, network processor, high-speed networking, terabit router, OC192 line cards, iFlow platform, packet processing, deep-packet inspection, packet classification, network switching, network routing, venture capital, Perry Constantine, silicon photonics, metro ethernet, WAN edge routers