CHICAGO--Equipment vendor Hatteras Networks announced partnerships with two equipment vendors this week as well as a new $21 million round of equity funding.

All of Hatteras’ existing investors participated in the $21-million round, which was led by new investor Globespan Capital Partners. This round brings the six-year-old company’s total funding to $89 million. Hatteras will use the new funds to push further into new markets, including Europe, where the company named a vice president of sales this week: Robert Benattar.

Also this week, Hatteras announced having brokered a distribution agreement with Siemens Hungary. The partnership has already yielded a customer win with incumbent tier-one carrier Magyar Telekom.

Hatteras also has an original equipment manufacturer agreement with a vendor it won’t identify beyond saying it’s French (making Alcatel the most likely suspect). The unnamed company began selling re-branded Hatteras gear earlier this spring to customers outside North America. In Europe, Hatteras will decide on a “market-by-market” basis whether to sell its gear directly or through Siemens or the other partner, the company said.

In North America, Hatteras sells directly to first- and second-tier carriers and uses distributors to reach third-tier carriers. The vendor sells layer-two switches that offer what it calls “mid-band Ethernet service”--Ethernet service over existing copper lines at bandwidth speeds between 1 Mb/s and 45 Mb/s, using 1-Mb/s and 2-Mb/s increments to fill in the large gap between what is currently provided by T-1s and T-3s.

In a statement issued this week by Hatteras, Infonetics Research principal analyst Michael Howard called 2006 a “breakout year” for Hatteras and its competitors to establish themselves as leaders in the young market for Ethernet-over-copper equipment. “Based on our knowledge of contract activity to date, we believe Hatteras will be one of the worldwide market share leaders in 2006 in this category,” Howard said.

“Most major new carriers are launching mid-band Ethernet services this year,” said Gary Bolton, Hatteras’ vice president of marketing and product management.