Santera closes $110 million funding round

Santera Systems, a maker of switches for communications networks, said it raised more than $110 million in third-round financing. Believed to be one of the largest this year for a private company, the round of funding was led by Redpoint Ventures. Santera has now raised about $200 million since its formation. Massive rounds of financing are common in the communications industry, which requires immense capital to build complex fiber-optic and Internet technologies. But VC funding had dried up over the past year as the Internet and communications sectors tanked. Santera's large round of funding is something of a departure from that trend.