IIX Inc., the global software-defined interconnection company, today announced it has secured $26 million in Series B funding. Formation 8 led this round with continued participation from New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Also participating are prominent technology investors Drew Perkins, Rajiv Ramaswami, and AME Cloud Ventures (launched by Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang).

The company will use the capital from its Series B funding to continue the growth of its team, expand its customer base in North America and EMEA, and accelerate its expansion throughout the APAC region.

This additional funding arrives only two months after IIX unveiled Console, a fully automated enterprise software platform that introduces the new concept of Interconnection 2.0. The platform enables companies to bypass the public Internet and directly connect to a global ecosystem of cloud infrastructure providers, SaaS providers and other business-critical partners simply with a click of a button.

The secure Console software interface resembles a social networking platform. Console enables business-to-business collaboration and direct connections, similar to how other social platforms enable professionals to directly connect. Console extracts all of the Layer 2 and Layer 3 configuration complexity for the enterprise to connect its network privately and directly to others.

'The growth of cloud services has created a need for businesses to access customers, vendors and partners faster and safer, without relying on public Internet,' said Al Burgio, founder and CEO of IIX. 'We're fulfilling this demand by heralding an era of interconnection 2.0, equipping enterprises with a fully automated, transparent platform for directly connecting with cloud providers such as ZenDesk, Box, LinkedIn, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.'

This latest equity round brings IIX's total raised funds to approximately $65 million, comprising debt and equity. The company has grown rapidly since completing its Series A round in 2014, and now operates offices in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia, as well as a global interconnection footprint that includes more than 150 Points of Presence (PoPs) worldwide.

'Interconnection has traditionally been cost-prohibitive and a complex concept to implement successfully,' said Jim Kim, founding partner of Formation 8. 'We're pleased Console is eliminating these barriers with its intuitive solution aimed at accommodating the enterprise's shift to cloud services and other technologies. Formation 8 remains a firm supporter of Console's talented team and their efforts to provide market-defining solutions.'

To ensure ongoing innovation and customer support, the company recently established the Console Partner Programs, which includes industry-leading data center operators, network service providers and technology firms.

'With the proliferation of security and performance issues, the public Internet is an increasingly vulnerable place for enterprise collaboration and service delivery,' said Shirish Sathaye, general partner of Formation 8. 'Console's next-generation platform is the framework for how businesses securely connect, communicate and transact in a cloud-first economy.'

The company also announced today that Jim Kim has joined IIX's board of directors. Jim is a founding partner at Formation 8. Prior to Formation 8, Jim was a General Partner at Khosla Ventures, where he led investments and founded technology companies in a variety of industries including IT, hardware, and diversified technology. Before Khosla Ventures, Jim served as a Senior Partner at CMEA Capital. Jim began his career with GE Capital's Structured Finance group where he worked on a variety of IT & telecom financings before joining the Energy Finance team and working to grow their portfolio to $15 billion in assets. At GE, Jim also co-founded the GE Ventures initiative and led investments in China High Speed Transmission, ComScore, A123 Systems, Danger, and several later-stage companies across diverse technology sectors.

About IIX

IIX is a global software-defined interconnection company, headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. The company's Console platform enables programmable interconnection between networks that allow customers to gain more control, improve security, optimize network performance and extend network reach across the globe. In March 2015, IIX acquired IX Reach Limited, further expanding its global interconnection footprint into more than 150 Points of Presence (PoPs) across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. IIX is privately held and investors include New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Formation 8, DOT Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, and Drew Perkins. To learn more, visit www.iix.net.

About Console

Console Inc., an IIX company, was created to change the way enterprises connect to their customers, vendors, and partners. Console's enterprise software and interconnection platform enables both network-to-network and enterprise-to-enterprise collaboration globally. The Console platform provides enhanced network security, improved performance, and faster business-to-business direct connect. For more information, visit http://www.console.to.