VirtenSys is developing systems that include software and semiconductor hardware. The systems maximise the flow of data in and out of computer servers. The company has raised $30m from three venture firms based in Scotland, Flanders and Canada. VirtenSys employs 45 people, 33 of them in England, Silicon Valley and on the East Coast.

Ahmet Houssein, CEO, VirtenSys, says he hopes to raise more than $18m during the first half of this year in a new financing round. Developing chips is an expensive proposition, but “we see the opportunity out there, which is huge,” Houssein said. VirtenSys plans to hire a number of people in Beaverton.

VirtenSys’ technology is now under evaluation among others IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell. Houssein expects revenue beginning in the fourth quarter, and a fast increase to between $50 - $100m.

RNA’s software is designed to make the best use of available virtual memory in computer networks. The 25-employee company has raised $7m. Of that, $6m was invested in April last year by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, which manages more than $4bn. Early investors include the Oregon Angel Fund, Tigard firm Reference Capital Management LLC and Seattle firm Divergent Ventures LLC.

RNA Networks CEO Clive Cook, (left) formerly with wireless technology firm VeriLAN, hopes to hire another 15 people noting that “A startup is always in fund-raising mode,” he says.

Virtualisation cuts server and space costs, cuts energy usage, and allows companies to grow intensively data-driven businesses — such as e-commerce giants like Amazon.com, or finance houses doing billions of daily transactions without having to vastly expand their data centers.

Menlo decided to invest in RNA because its technology is distinct from other virtualization products on the market. “This technology allows you to pool memory,” said Mark Siegel, Menlo MD. “Tons of (computer) applications are constrained by the relative slowness of accessing from a disk. This improves performance of all kinds of applications by an order of magnitude.”

RNA’s first customer has already demonstrated a big improvement in data performance, said Cook. The customer, an unnamed large global hedge fund, has speeded computer transactions by a factor of five. At the same time, RNA’s technology can reduce the number of server computers needed by 30 to 40%. Cook said.

That level of increased data speed brings benefits to other data-driven businesses, said Cook. The company is talking with potential customers in areas as diverse as animation production; online video entertainment; oil and gas exploration; and life sciences.

The need to control costs as data increases is driving fast growth in virtualisation products. Revenue was about $560m in 2005, according to research firm IDC, and expected to increase to $2.7bn this year. In 2007, some 5m computers used virtualisation technology. Gartner Inc is predicting that at 660m by the end of 2011.

Source: http://portland.bizjournals.com
Webs: http://www.virtensys.com/
http://www.rnanetworks.com/