Mellanox Technologies
Encyclopedia
Mellanox Technologies is a provider of Ethernet
and InfiniBand
host bus adapters, founded in 1999.
It is headquartered in Sunnyvale
, California
and Yokneam, Israel
. It is dual-listed
on both the NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
, where it is a component of the TA-100 Index
and the TA BlueTech-50 Index
.
to support the Infiniband protocol. The company was venture
funded, raising more than $89 million dollars in 3 financing rounds. Venture and other financial investors included Raza Venture Management, Sequoia Capital
, US Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners
, Banc of America Securities
, China Development Investment Bank, Gemini Israel Funds, Jerusalem Global Ventures, and Walden Israel Venture Capital. Strategic investors included Dell
, IBM
, JNI, Quanta Computer, Vitesse Semiconductor and Sun Microsystems
.
The company went public in 2007, with an IPO on NASDAQ that raised $102 million, and valued the company at over half a billion dollars. Since 2010, Oracle Corporation
has been a major investor in the company, holding around 10% of its stock. Oracle has stated it has no plans to acquire Mellanox, but uses its Infiniband technology in its Exadata and Exalogic appliances.
. The current generation of its chips are produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp
.
. Rather than setting up offshore engineering centers in traditional places such as the Far East or Eastern Europe, Mellanox instead hired five Palestinian engineers from Ramallah
through a Palestinian outsourcing firm. Waldman claims an ideological reason behind the move, of boosting political stability in the region, and has stated Mellanox will move forward with plans to build an R&D center in Ramallah even though it is more expensive than outsourcing to Eastern Europe.
described Mellanox as "the premier switched fabric
provider for enterprise data centers and high performance computing". According to the same article, Mellanox's InfiniBand technology is faster, more scalable and provides higher throughput than alternative communications technologies.
Larry Ellison
, CEO of Oracle, has described Mellanox’s main technology, Infiniband, as "by far the fastest and most efficient switch fabric for running enterprise data centers."
and IBM. Other customers include Chevron
, Viacom
, JPMorgan, Comcast
and Airbus
.
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
and InfiniBand
InfiniBand
InfiniBand is a switched fabric communications link used in high-performance computing and enterprise data centers. Its features include high throughput, low latency, quality of service and failover, and it is designed to be scalable...
host bus adapters, founded in 1999.
It is headquartered in Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Yokneam, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. It is dual-listed
Cross Listing
Cross listing of shares is when a firm lists its equity shares on one or more foreign stock exchange in addition to its domestic exchange. Examples include: American Depository Receipt , European Depositary Receipt , International Depositary Receipt and Global Registered Shares .Generally such a...
on both the NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in Tel Aviv is Israel's only stock exchange.The TASE is the only public market for trading securities in Israel. It plays a major role in the Israeli economy....
, where it is a component of the TA-100 Index
TA-100 Index
The TA-100 Index, typically referred to as the Tel Aviv 100, is a stock market index of the 100 most highly capitalised companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange . The index began on 1 January 1992 with a base level of 100...
and the TA BlueTech-50 Index
TA BlueTech-50 Index
The TA BlueTech-50 Index is a stock market index of the 50 most highly capitalised Information technology and Biotechnology companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange...
.
Corporate history
Mellanox was founded in 1999 by former executives of Galileo Technology Eyal Waldman and Roni Ashuri. Initially founded as a chipmaker, it evolved into a producer of complete end-to-end systems by 2009. It provides InfiniBand switches for servers and storage used in enterprise data centers, and also makes its own chipsChips
-Food:*A thick version of French fries, strips of deep-fried potato*Potato chips , a snack food comprising thin slices of fried potatoes*Tortilla chips, a snack food made from corn tortillas*Corn chips a snack food made from corn...
to support the Infiniband protocol. The company was venture
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
funded, raising more than $89 million dollars in 3 financing rounds. Venture and other financial investors included Raza Venture Management, Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"...
, US Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners is a private venture capital firm with offices in Silicon Valley, New York, Massachusetts, Israel, China, and India.Bessemer Venture Partners is the longest-standing venture capital practice in the United States...
, Banc of America Securities
Banc of America Securities
Banc of America Securities LLC , based in New York City, was an investment banking subsidiary of Bank of America. The firm competed in both the domestic and international equity and investment banking markets, and pursued a strategy pioneered by Citigroup that combines corporate lending with...
, China Development Investment Bank, Gemini Israel Funds, Jerusalem Global Ventures, and Walden Israel Venture Capital. Strategic investors included Dell
Dell
Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, JNI, Quanta Computer, Vitesse Semiconductor and Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
.
The company went public in 2007, with an IPO on NASDAQ that raised $102 million, and valued the company at over half a billion dollars. Since 2010, Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
has been a major investor in the company, holding around 10% of its stock. Oracle has stated it has no plans to acquire Mellanox, but uses its Infiniband technology in its Exadata and Exalogic appliances.
Manufacturing
Mellanox is a fabless semiconductor companyFabless semiconductor company
A fabless semiconductor company specializes in the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing the fabrication or "fab" of the devices to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry...
. The current generation of its chips are produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp
TSMC
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
.
Hiring practices
Mellanox is one of a few Israeli high-tech firms that have outsourced some of its engineering to the adjacent West BankWest Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
. Rather than setting up offshore engineering centers in traditional places such as the Far East or Eastern Europe, Mellanox instead hired five Palestinian engineers from Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
through a Palestinian outsourcing firm. Waldman claims an ideological reason behind the move, of boosting political stability in the region, and has stated Mellanox will move forward with plans to build an R&D center in Ramallah even though it is more expensive than outsourcing to Eastern Europe.
Products
In an October, 2010 article, ReutersReuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
described Mellanox as "the premier switched fabric
Switched fabric
Switched fabric, switching fabric, or just fabric, is a network topology where network nodes connect with each other via one or more network switches . The term is popular in telecommunication, Fibre Channel storage area networks and other high-speed networks, including InfiniBand...
provider for enterprise data centers and high performance computing". According to the same article, Mellanox's InfiniBand technology is faster, more scalable and provides higher throughput than alternative communications technologies.
Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison
Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, one of the world's leading enterprise software companies. As of 2011, he is the third wealthiest American citizen, with an estimated worth of $33 billion.- Early life :Larry Ellison was born in the...
, CEO of Oracle, has described Mellanox’s main technology, Infiniband, as "by far the fastest and most efficient switch fabric for running enterprise data centers."
- SwitchX is a multi-protocol ASICASICASIC may refer to:* Application-specific integrated circuit, an integrated circuit developed for a particular use, as opposed to a customised general-purpose device.* ASIC programming language, a dialect of BASIC...
that handles both Infinband and Ethernet traffic. It builds on the older 90 nanometer90 nanometerThe 90 nm process refers to the level of CMOS process technology that was reached in the 2002–2003 timeframe, by most leading semiconductor companies, like Intel, AMD, Infineon, Texas Instruments, IBM, and TSMC....
architecture of ConnectX technology, originally developed by Mellanox to support both Ethernet and Infiniband on one chip. SwitchX is the fifth generation, using a 40 nanometer process with 1.4 billion transistors on a 45mm by 45mm chip. - ConnectX-3 is a 10/40GbE adapter for VMwareVMwareVMware, Inc. is a company providing virtualization software founded in 1998 and based in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was acquired by EMC Corporation in 2004, and operates as a separate software subsidiary ....
ESXi 5.0 that provides virtual protocol interconnect, meaning it can run 10 Gigabit Ethernet10 Gigabit EthernetThe 10 gigabit Ethernet computer networking standard was first published in 2002. It defines a version of Ethernet with a nominal data rate of 10 Gbit/s , ten times faster than gigabit Ethernet.10 gigabit Ethernet defines only full duplex point to point links which are generally connected by...
, 40Gb Ethernet, or Infiniband at up to 56Gb per second from the same card. The ConnectX architecture has been described as "novel", with excellent performance that is "very well suited for modern multi-core platforms"
Customers
Mellanox derived more than a quarter of its revenues from two large customers, Hewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
and IBM. Other customers include Chevron
Chevron
Chevron may refer to:* Chevron , a decoration* Chevron , a bone* Chevron , a fold in rock layers* Chevron , a sediment deposit across the earth's surface* The Chevron, a newspaper...
, Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
, JPMorgan, Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
and Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
.
See also
- Israel-Palestinian high-tech initiatives
- List of Israeli companies quoted on the Nasdaq