Entridia

About Entridia

Entridia operated as a fabless semiconductor company, established in 1997 and headquartered in Irvine, California. The firm focused on developing and marketing silicon-based routing engines specifically designed to accelerate the convergence of data, voice, and video communications over internet protocols. The company's primary market was manufacturers of internet routers for regional and central office applications, staking its position on the edge of the internet rather than the core.

The company's flagship product was a highly integrated, wire-speed edge router chip named "Wisper". This chip integrated route processing, table lookup, packet forwarding, and active bandwidth management, delivering a processing speed of 6.4 gigabits per second. Entridia's business model revolved around a virtual supply chain, partnering with S3, which acted as its operations manager, handling purchasing, shipping, and liaison with foundry partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). This arrangement allowed Entridia to concentrate its resources on chip design and marketing.

Entridia successfully raised $40 million in capital through various funding rounds, including an initial Angel investment of $5 million and a subsequent early-stage VC round of $10 million in July 1999. Its investors included notable entities such as Conexant Systems, Agilent Technologies, Applied Micro Circuits, and BofA Securities. Conexant, in particular, played a significant role by backing the company and assisting with marketing and sales efforts. Ultimately, Entridia was acquired by Stratigos Networks, marking its exit as a venture-backed company.