Overture Networks (News - Alert), a global provider of carrier Ethernet solutions, recently announced the closing of an additional $17.2 million round of equity funding.

In this round of funding, a new global investor named QuestMark Partners joins the existing investors which include Intel Capital (News - Alert), Intersouth Partners, Morgenthaler Ventures, Tenaya Capital, TDF Fund and Gray Ventures. Additionally, Tim Krongard, an existing partner of QuestMark Partners, will become a Board member of Overture Networks.

“We are extremely pleased with the intense interest in Overtures Networks from the investment community,” said Jeff Reedy (News - Alert), the CEO of Overture Networks. “This oversubscribed financing round further validates our progress, success and expectations in this growing market. Overture Networks is already a financially sound company but with this additional capital, we will be able to more quickly implement our growth plans from both a product enhancement and global expansion perspective.”

According to the recent report from Infonetics on Carrier Ethernet, the Carrier Ethernet market continues to grow as evidenced by the most recent happenings. The report forecasts that, by 2013, the revenues from Carrier Ethernet equipment manufacturers will reach $34 billion which is nearly double the reported revenues for 2008. Also, from the time this report was first published i.e. April, 2009, till now, there is an increase of $2 billion. Over the next five years, the total expenditure on Carrier Ethernet is projected to be $146 billion.

Tim Krongard, an existing partner of QuestMark Partners, said, “Overture Networks’ value proposition is unique as it offers a cost-effective, flexible and manageable solution that supports and enhances the deployment of both Ethernet and legacy services to any size location and any network. The demand for Carrier Ethernet has continued to explode and we believe that Overture Networks has the team, technology and customer relationships in place to take full advantage of this market opportunity.”

Overture Networks’ innovative solutions have the proven ability to fully leverage Carrier Ethernet to multiply service revenues and streamline operational costs. Overture Networks exceptionally combines the packet-switched and circuit-switched worlds into a single architecture through optical fiber or copper transport.