Stories about: Foundation Capital

Venture funding for networking companies took a small dive in the second quarter, but a few innovative Internet, wireless and hardware vendors raised boatloads of cash from investors.

Venture capital investment in network companies hit another low during the first quarter, with the total number of investments dropping to its lowest point since the third quarter of 2004.

Few reports have surfaced of security breaches in virtual-server environments, but the potential looms large.

In 2007,we designated more than 90 start-ups as worth watching. After a second look, we picked these 10 as offering what matters most in the enterprise -- agility, seamless integration and pervasive connectivity.

Start-up Guardian Analytics Monday makes it debut with an online fraud-prevention service geared for financial services firms.

New companies have to be brash to enter the network security market, given that the industry has witnessed an explosion in creativity over the past five years and considering that big players such as Microsoft and IBM increasingly are throwing their weight around in security.

Venture capital investments in 2007 will be aimed at enterprise-focused startups with products that push the innovation of wireless devices and services, security, open source and virtualization.

Server virtualization is hotter than hot, ignited by the technology's use in creating a more compact, highly flexible and cost-efficient server infrastructure. Survey results from Forrester Research, for example, show that 75 percent of 1,200 respondents at global enterprises are aware of server virtualization technology, with 26 percent having implemented it and another 8 percent set to pilot it within the next year. Also telling is that 60 percent of the respondents who have implemented the technology plan to expand their use.

If you want to find out what's hot for the enterprise, follow the money: the venture capital money, that is. Interest in old-school business models and applications has waned, but startups that offer enterprises innovative, secure solutions at low cost are attracting big money.

When it comes to selling products to big companies, young software companies face a Catch-22: Most corporations aren't willing to bet on a business application that doesn't have at least a few large customer references, yet those references will never materialize without some brave soul believing enough in a start-up to take a risk on its unproven software.

A new $6 million investment in Australian technology could be the answer to poor quality call standards on VoIP networks.