See 6/07 profile.

Akros Silicon was formed in January 2005 “to bring managed power to the network edge.” Akros specializes in precision analog, mixed signal & system networking ICs and provides “fundamental innovation for seamless integration of power over Ethernet control, power management and interface to the Ethernet world.” In July 2005, the company raised $9 million in Series A funding from Bay Partners and U.S. Venture Partners. Series B funding will be sought in late 2007 and should carry the company to breakeven. Akros also has a $4M loan from Silicon Valley Bank. The company has 25 employees.

Power over Ethernet is a real and growing opportunity that is here today. PoE eliminates the need for running both data and power wires to each device. PoE is also more reliable than traditional AC power as it offers enhanced protection against power overloads, outages, surges and spikes. Enterprise devices such VoIP phones have already embraced PoE. Residential access and infotainment devices are beginning to use it. And emerging medical, industrial, security, and automotive devices represent potential opportunities as well.

To capitalize on this opportunity, Akros is developing network edge processing ICs, enabling powered appliances. Akros claims to have developed the first system-level IC solutions that merge the network interface with power management circuitry. Akros believes its solutions will enable large-scale deployment of network-attached appliances, such as VoIP phones, WLAN access points, RFID tag readers, point-of-sale terminals, networked cameras, remote access and home-networked systems.

The existing IEEE 802.3af PoE standard enables powered devices to receive as much as 13 Watts of power, which can be limiting for many of today’s power hungry devices. The emerging IEEE 802.3at standard enhances PoE by providing increased power of at least 30 Watts, with the potential to move as high as the 60 Watt range. Akros believes that shift to the higher power IEEE 802.3at standard creates an inflection point for significant new design opportunities.

There is also a move underfoot from Class A to tighter Class B EMI regulations. The two major sources for EMI interference at the point-of-entry come from Ethernet differential to common mode conversion from Ethernet PHYs and from switching noise resulting from the DC-DC conversion. Since Power and Ethernet signals are sent on the same wire, it is critical to manage the path for transient surge events in parallel with DC-DC conversion in order to achieve EMC compliance while meeting Ethernet transmission performance.

Akros’ system-level CMOS devices control EMI and Surge transients, while managing power and Ethernet performance. Its EMI technology suppresses EMI radiation and improves immunity in both conductive and radiative frequency bands at the point-of-entry. The integrated design “touches the wire” thus reducing the distances involved in EMI radiation and surge performance, which reduces the amount of energy radiated.

PoE competitors include PowerDsine (Nasdaq: PDSN), among others. In October 2006, Microsemi entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PowerDsine for $168 million net of cash acquired.

Akros argues that competing devices are simply building blocks, and require many additional components to form complete solutions. In contrast, Akros offers a highly integrated complete solution that minimizes the number of additional passives and ICs required. The company also believes that it will be one of the first to offer higher power 802.3at solutions. The company has 24 patents filed with many more in the pipeline.

Currently, Akros is focused on the device side and is alpha sampling two ICs, which are fabricated in 0.18u CMOS and 0.8u BCDMOS. Additional details will be unveiled in Q2. Future plans include devices for mid-span power sourcing equipment.

J. Francois Crepin, President, CEO, Chairman & Co-founder (former president, COO and Director of Metalink and held various VP positions at Level One (acquired by Intel), including VP marketing and sales, business development and M&A as well as divisional GM)

John Camagna, VP of Engineering & Co-Founder (former VP of engineering at Metalink and directed the DSL program at Level One)

Sajol Ghoshal, CTO and Chief Architect & Co-Founder (former COO at Calpont, a hardware-based database management company, VP of engineering of Agere, which was acquired by Lucent/Agere and director of engineering of the WAN Access Division at Level One)

Linda Maser, VP of North American Sales (previously VP of Sales for Zilker Labs and Director of Sales and Marketing for ON Semiconductor’s computing segment)