2004 Product of the Year

LVL7 Systems, Inc.

Description

Morrisville-based LVL7 (Level 7) Systems, Inc. is the market leader for merchant IP software that accelerates the development of Ethernet networking equipment. Optimized for both the Enterprise and the Telecom markets, LVL7’s FASTPATH software enables Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) and Contract Manufacturers (CMs) to reduce product development costs and time to market. LVL7’s FASTPATH product is highly modularized and is currently integrated and available on over 80% of the world’s silicon and operating systems, including technology market leaders – Broadcom, Marvell, Intel and MontaVista Linux.

Reasons for winning the award

LVL7 Systems has created a networking product and Merchant IP Software Model that is unique to the market. LVL7’s FASTPATH product is a leading software platform for fully integrated, system certified turn-key systems that allows vendors to develop Enterprise and Service Provider based Ethernet-IP products with faster time to market and with lower development costs. FASTPATH is enabling equipment vendors to outsource their networking software and partition their investment and engineering resources.

Quote

“The team at LVL7 is excited to receive the CED 2004 Product of the Year Award for the FASTPATH 4000 Distributed Architecture Ethernet software solution, targeted towards networking equipment vendors. This award culminates 4 years of product development and a successful new product launch that is driving 200% revenue growth this year.” -- Al Bender, CEO, LVL7 Systems

History

LVL7 Systems was founded in 1999 by former IBM executives, whose vision of the company was to create a unique networking Merchant IP Software product offering. LVL7 business model was contrary to the basic value proposition of potential customers (networking equipment vendors) who believed they could differentiate themselves with their internally developed software. When the dot-com bubble burst, networking vendors had to find ways to develop new Enterprise and Telecom products with faster time to market and with lower development costs. LVL7’s technology and products were well positioned to meet their needs. The company’s business model was also contrary to the investment models of venture capital firms that believed that OEMs would never outsource software. LVL7 had to battle to win over both customers and investors in creating an entirely new market for merchant IP software. LVL7 attracted key business and engineering talent from local networking companies including Alcatel, Cisco, IBM and Nortel to execute on the product plan and strategy.

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