Aztek Networks, a leading provider of Emergency Stand alone switching and IP gateway products, recently announced the closing of $6.6 million in Series A funding.

The financing, co-led by Sequel Venture Partners and Grotech Capital Group, will fund development and introduction of the company's innovative Remote Switch Gateway product line. The Telecommunications Development Fund also participated in the round. Tim Connor, partner with Sequel Venture Partners, and Joseph Zell, general partner with Grotech Capital Group, will join Aztek Networks' Board of Directors.

Aztek Networks' Remote Switch Gateway is an IP media gateway and True Emergency Stand Alone switch. True ESA is a unique, patent-pending method for constantly maintaining subscriber dial-tone and calling access to emergency 911 services in a purpose built, high availability hardware system that is deployable in a field cabinet. Aztek Networks is the only provider of IP media gateway products using True ESA. The Remote Switch Gateway family of products will roll out in early spring.

"Aztek has created a truly exciting and enterprising new product line in the Remote Switch Gateway. These products will provide service providers with a path to evolve their networks to IP and bring more reliable voice and 911 services to communities in emergency situations," said Tim Connor, partner, Sequel Venture Partners.

"We believe in Aztek Networks' mission and its products. We are pleased to invest in a company that is providing a critical service, especially to remote locations, in the unique and dependable True ESA system. We are confident independent telecom service providers will embrace the company's products and are excited to be a partner in building the company," said Joseph Zell, general partner, Grotech Capital Group.

"Moving forward with strong backing from our investors, we are poised to take this company to the next stage," said Steven Bruny, CEO of Aztek Networks. "We are delighted to have Tim and Joe join our Board of Directors and believe their experience and strategic insight will be critical in developing our company and products."

The Remote Switch Gateway with True ESA is a high availability, environmentally hardened and fault tolerant hardware system. All Remote Switch Gateway products are IP ready, allowing service providers to seamlessly migrate their network to IP while preserving network reliability. Aztek Networks is the only vendor that can link access systems from multiple vendors, via a GR-303 interface, into a True ESA community at the field cabinet level.