CALIENT Technologies, Inc., the global leader for optical circuit switching technology, today announced it has raised a $27 million round of venture financing and named Jag Setlur, a 20-year finance professional, as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

The company raised the round from a combination of new and existing investors. The funding will be used to enhance CALIENT's portfolio of 3D MEMS optical circuit switching systems, extend its IP portfolio and provide working capital for its rapid production growth driven by new applications in software defined datacenter networking.

Setlur reports to Atiq Raza, CALIENT Chairman and CEO. He joins CALIENT from July Systems where he served as chief operating officer (COO) and CFO. Prior to that, Setlur served as CFO for Cotendo Inc., where he closed two rounds of funding of nearly $30 million and managed the strategic positioning and sale of the company to Akamai.

Through his career, Setlur has served in leadership roles at NetXen Inc. (acquired by Qlogic Inc.), VeriSign, CoWare (acquired by Synopsys), enStage, iPrint Technologies (acquired by American TonerServ Corp.), TCSI and UB Networks.

'This round of financing will support the exciting opportunities ahead at CALIENT as we work to meet rapidly growing demands for optical circuit switching in software-defined datacenters and metro networks,' Raza said. 'With this funding and our recent growth, I believe now is the time for an experienced CFO like Jag to join the senior management team. I am pleased to have him on board and look forward to leveraging his expertise as we continue to develop and optimize the CALIENT product portfolio and expand our market footprint.'

CALIENT's technology is based on its patented deep-silicon plasma etch process that is used to make 3D MEMS mirrors. With this process, the company is able to develop products that lead the industry in performance, scalability and cost. The company designs and fabricates its systems using state-of-the-art optical MEMS equipment in its fabrication facility located at its corporate headquarters in Santa Barbara, CA.

For more information on CALIENT and its solutions, please visit http://www.calient.net/solutions/.

About CALIENT Technologies

Headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA, CALIENT Technologies is the global leader in adaptive optical circuit switching with systems that enable dynamic optical layer optimization in next generation data centers and software defined networks. CALIENT's 3D MEMS switches have demonstrated years of reliability, with eight years of successful continuous operation. With more than 80,000 optical terminations shipped, CALIENT has one of the largest installed bases of optical circuit switches worldwide. For more information, visit us at http://www.calient.net, on Twitter and LinkedIn or contact us at marketing@calient.net.