Vernier Grabs $12MVernier Grabs $12M

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Vernier Networks(R) today announced that it added $2 million to its series D funding round bringing the total to $12 million. Existing investors, including Foundation Capital, DCM-Doll Capital Management, Allegis Capital, UV Partners, Masthead Ventures and Weber Capital participated in this round. The company has raised $35 million to date. Vernier also announced that Blake Modersitzki of UV Partners has joined the company's board of directors and Sean Gavin has joined the company as vice president of sales.

This infusion of capital will further the company's expansion into the network security market featuring its Adaptive Security Platform -- an integrated suite of security products aimed at providing a coordinated defense to enterprises to stop increasingly complex network threats.

"We have seen a recent surge in demand for the Vernier ASP as organizations realized that the only true defense against intrusion threats is through an integrated endpoint security solution," said Simon Khalaf, president and chief executive officer of Vernier Networks. "We are very pleased to have Sean Gavin on board to help us expand our channels of distribution and Blake Modersitzki on our board to fully capitalize on this surge."

According to Palo Alto, Calif.-based Radicati Group's study, "Enterprise Security Market, 2004-2008," the total enterprise security market is a $2.9 billion industry worldwide this year, and is expected to "grow rapidly" over the next four years, reaching $6.6 billion in 2008.

As Vernier's new vice president of worldwide sales, Sean Gavin brings more than 16 years of worldwide sales and business leadership experience from the security, enterprise software, wireless and networking industries to Vernier. Before coming to Vernier, Gavin served as vice president of channel sales at Strix Systems, where he successfully built the company's distribution strategy in the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Africa. Prior to Strix Systems, Sean was vice president and general manager of the hosted services division of Vertel, a leading provider of network management software and services for telecommunications companies. Earlier in his career, Gavin was responsible for international sales at Worldtalk (later Tumbleweed Communications), the market leader in e-mail security solutions and at Retix, a leading manufacturer of IT bridges and switches.

Blake Modersitzki joined UV Partners in 2002. Prior to joining UV Partners he was managing director of Novell Ventures and vice president of strategic business development. He was responsible for managing Novell's venture fund, all relationships with the venture capital community, investment bankers, and the portfolio, as well as Novell's Global Strategic Business development group. He has also held key positions at Novell in corporate development, product management, sales and marketing.

Vernier Networks Inc.