Polychromix Reveals Plan

WOBURN, Mass. -- Polychromix(R), a privately held advanced communications technology company, today announced that it is developing modular optical subsystems based on an innovative core technology that will enable dynamically configurable optical networks. The company also announced its executive team, which is led by its Co-founder and President, Dr. Stephen Senturia, an MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering who is globally recognized as a founder and leader in the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) field. Polychromix also announced $7 million in its first round of funding. Seed Capital Partners (a SOFTBANK affiliate) and Vanguard Ventures co-led the round. Additional first round investors included Navigator Technology Ventures, Pyramid Technology Ventures, Bain & Co., and Hale and Dorr. Polychromix began operations during the summer of 2001 to develop, manufacture, and sell a full suite of Channel Management Solutions that address the capital-expense and operating-expense challenges that both carriers and network systems vendors face. Polychromix's Channel Management Solutions will enable carriers to dynamically provision and control optical channels remotely from a network operating center, effectively replacing "truck rolls" (sending out maintenance trucks) with "key strokes" (entered at a network operating center terminal). "Carriers made substantial investments in optical technologies over the past few years, and are now facing the imperative to turn these investments into revenue and profits," said Dr. Stephen Senturia, Co-founder and President of Polychromix. "Polychromix delivers technologies that enable the promise of the optical network in a way that helps carriers simultaneously cut costs and deliver new services." Polychromix Inc.