Updata Partners' Investment Will Enable Bradford to Further Accelerate Growth
Concord, NH – Bradford Networks, an award-winning provider of comprehensive network access control (NAC) solutions, today announced it has secured $8 million in Series B funding led by Updata Partners with participation from Bradford’s Series A investor, Windspeed Ventures.
Bradford will use the infusion of capital to expand its award-winning product portfolio, and expand sales and marketing efforts into new market segments and geographies. The company will also grow the customer support and professional services team that has earned Bradford industry-leading customer loyalty.
Updata’s investment validates Bradford Networks’ out-of-band, edge enforcement architecture, which currently secures more than 1 million network users at more than 400 organizations worldwide. The funding comes on the heels of Gartner’s MarketScope for Network Access Control, 2008. "Gartner estimates that this market grew 87 percent from 2006 to a total of $225 million in 2007. Gartner anticipates that the market will grow approximately 100 percent in 2008.” In the report, Bradford Networks received a “Positive” rating; Gartner evaluated 17 NAC vendors for the report. (Gartner Inc. “MarketScope for Network Access Control, 2008,” by Lawrence Orans, John Pescatore, and Mark Nicolett, published March 25, 2008)
Forrester Research reports, “Global 2000 enterprises are leading the charge…These larger organizations feel the full brunt of multiple user constituencies, especially contractors and outsourcers, requiring access to the corporate network, and strict compliance requirements that demand greater visibility, reporting, and segmentation.” (Overcoming The Common Pitfalls Of NAC, by Robert Whiteley, published April 23, 2008)
“Our decision to invest in Bradford is the result of a combination of Bradford’s superior technology, its proven ability to win and grow new customers and the market demand in education, healthcare, financial services, energy, and government market sectors,” said Carter Griffin, partner of Updata Partners, who has been appointed to the Bradford board of directors.
Last month, Bradford announced its new NAC Director Guest/Contractor Services (GCS) solution, which gives organizations the advanced security and operational tools required to easily manage the relentless increase of guests, contractors, and strategic business partners needing access to enterprise, academic and government networks.
“The Updata investment fuels Bradford’s ability to expand our product and service offerings and extend our global reach,” said Mike Gadoury, Bradford Networks founder and CEO. “It is a vote of confidence in Bradford’s approach and in our vision for the future of the NAC market.”
About Bradford Networks
Bradford Networks is dedicated to solving the security challenges facing enterprise, institutions and government by developing innovative network access control solutions for wired, wireless and VPN networks that deliver automated security services by leveraging existing network infrastructures and investments. Privately held, Bradford Networks is located in Concord, NH. For more information, call (603) 228-5300 or visit www.bradfordnetworks.com.
About Updata Partners
Updata Partners is a leading venture capital firm that invests in growth stage information technology companies with innovative intellectual property enabling market-leading products and services. Led by an investment team averaging more than 20 years of operational and private equity experience in the technology industry, we seek investments where the combination of our financial backing and operating expertise will accelerate growth. With close to $500 million under management, the firm also selectively provides recapitalization and management buyout financing.
For more information, visit www.updatapartners.com.
About Windspeed Ventures
Windspeed Ventures is a Boston-area based early and seed stage venture firm that actively helps build high technology companies in the communications, security, media and internet services industries.
For more information visit: www.wsventures.com.
About the MarketScope
The MarketScope is copyrighted March 2008 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The MarketScope is an evaluation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the MarketScope, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest rating. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.