3:45 PM -- It turns out Netronome will be picking up another round of funding in conjunction with its Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) deal.

Recap: Intel recently licensed its high-end microprocessor, the IXP2800 line, to Netronome. And in what sounds suspiciously like an end-of-life statement, Intel's saying it will continue to ship and support IXP2800s until at least 2012. (See Intel Licenses Netronome.)

Netronome was built up by some Fore Systems veterans (old school!) to sell Layers 4 through 7 equipment -- cards and boxes doing deep packet inspection, load balancing, that sort of thing. Their stuff uses an IXP2800 chip for Layers 2 and 3 processing, with Netronome's own chip and software handling the upper layers.

Now, with Intel's blessing, Netronome can start building its own hybrid chips that incorporate an IXP2800. And that new arm of business apparently warrents more money from the investors that have put in $28 million since about 2005. An announcement should be coming before year's end, Netronome tells us.

We've got the stats sheet on Netronome in our Startup Spotlight: Netronome Systems Inc.— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading