NEWS

Mu Dynamics VoIP Robustness Testing Solutions Snare $10 Million in Funding

 

TMCnet
May 13, 2009
By Tim Gray

A recent infusion of cash from several key investors is expected to help Mu Dynamics accelerate its rapid market expansion plans, particularly among Tier 1 Network operators and their vendors, according to the company.

While Mu Dynamics business has remained a steady beacon in the proactive service assurance industry amid a sluggish economy, its plans to snatch up a third round of financing worth an estimated $10 million signals its leadership sees an even bigger market waiting to be tapped.  

“Given the six-digit costs associated with even a single hour of downtime in any operators' networked applications or even SaaS  offerings, there is a significant worldwide market opportunity for Mu's systematic, automated and proactive approach to pinpointing potential sources of failure in IP-based infrastructures," said Jim Boettcher, general partner with lead investor Focus Ventures.

A pioneer in helping network operators and their vendors eliminate downtime through proactive service assurance, the California-based Mu Dynamics received the funding from  Focus Ventures and previous investorsAccel Partners, Benchmark Capital and DAG Ventures.

"The company's track record with leading global operators is among the reasons we're so bullish about our investment in Mu," said Boettcher.

As of now Mu has more than 100 active deployments worldwide. And those numbers have been built on the back the strength of its cornerstone solution, the Mu-4000 appliance, a widely adopted solution with global service providers and their strategic vendors.

From its beginnings Mu’s analyzer was designed to support integration with a wide variety of test lab environments including load generation, functional testing, open and proprietary standards.

And as the environments it operates in have grown and evolved, the Mu analyzer has advanced controls of other testing devices along with it. Now, as TMCnet recently reported, the Mu-4000 Service Analyzer provides a rigorous and streamlined methodology for testing the robustness and security aspects of IP based applications and services by monitoring their behavior in the presence of abnormal traffic.

The Mu solution automates the detection, isolation and elimination of a wide range of weaknesses in IP-based networks and supplier products, and is continually introducing, and enhancing its services.

“Network operators are introducing new and enhanced IP-based services at an accelerating pace in order to quickly generate new sources of revenue and differentiate themselves,” said Rebecca Swensen, research analyst of VoIP services atIDC “Mu offers a solution to address the complexity underlying VoIP, IPTV, and IMS deployments. The ability to roll out new, quality services quickly is integral to customer satisfaction. Mu's solution integrates into an operator’s existing processes to provide greater availability and reliability.”

Indicators suggest Mu’s timing to expand is on the mark. A recent study found that three-quarters of companies will have invested in virtualization and unified communications by the end of the year, despite the worst economic downturn since World War II. And the biggest drivers behind this projection are the perceived cost savings and quick return on investments.

This is good news for Mu and this industry as a whole, in that the study determined that some companies are not adequately prepared. In fact, 75 percent of the organizations that are rushing to roll out new network technologies do not have the tools and visibility necessary to monitor and troubleshoot performance problems.

This is where Mu is expected to step in. With a methodical and proactive approach designed to maximize network operator service availability and network uptime, the Mu-4000 can help these service providers proactively eliminate many sources of costly downtime, avoid reputation damage, ensure customer satisfaction is maintained at the highest levels possible, and reduce costly customer churn.

“We’ve evolved the Mu solution to address a broader set of problems faced by customers that focus on the challenges posed by service, application, and network downtime,” said Dave Kresse, CEO of Mu Dynamics. “’Dynamics’ better describes the value proposition of our solution’s ability to detect sources of potentially costly downtime before our customers experience outages that result in revenue loss and customer churn."
With a significant new round of financing backed by big name venture capital firms in the industry, and continued strong customer adoption from leading global network operators and their vendors, Mu is expecting even greater success moving forward.