Maple Optical Systems has closed a $40 million funding round this week, bringing the equipment maker's total raised to date up to around $100 million, according to several published reports.

But the published reports are premature, according to Maple's senior director of marketing, Emma Rugge-Price. "The round hasn't actually closed yet, and that's why we can't comment," she says. "There's still a term sheet out to one of our investors, so the Series C amount isn't final."

Light Reading has learned that word got out through one of Maple's investors at Charter Venture Capital, which is investing in Maple for the first time during the Series C round. Charter's venture partners could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.

Maple is reportedly building a box that will eliminate the need for Sonet add/drop multiplexers and ATM switches by putting IP and other kinds of network traffic directly over fiber. Central to Maple's scheme is multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), a protocol that aims to allow data to be routed through networks more quickly while improving performance and quality-of-service issues.

The company's investors include Texas Pacific Group, Amerindo Investment Advisors, Aurora Technology Fund, Leapfrog Ventures, McQuillan Ventures, Siemens Venture Capital (SVC), Technology Crossover Ventures, and Charter, as well as Raza Foundries, which initially invested $9 million in the company.

Maple's last round of funding, a $50 million round, occured less than a year ago (see Maple Gets $50M for MPLS Box).

Light Reading
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