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Interview with Randy Smerik, Tarari

Randy Smerik is the President and CEO of San Diego-based Tarari, which announced the close of a $13.8M funding round this week from Morgan Stanley, Crosspoint Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Miramar Venture Partners, and XMLFund. I caught up with Randy to get a quick glance at what Tarari is doing.

BK: Tell me a little bit about Tarari and its products--who is the target customer for your products, and what space are you in?

RS: Tarari, Inc., designs and produces Tarari Content Processors that accelerate and offload compute-intensive, complex algorithms used in Network Security, XML, and Web Services . Tarari’s customers include network equipment, appliance, and server vendors as well as independent software vendors and enterprises.

BK: Where is Tarari in terms of product availability and deployment?

RS: We are currently shipping products in these key areas:

  • XML/Web Services – Tarari's next generation silicon is designed for OEMs, ISVs, and enterprises that require the acceleration of XML processing and need to include it in the systems they are building. With our recently announced Random Access XML (RAX) Content Processor, Tarari has taken a big leap forward in allowing critical data in XML formatted messages and files to be accessed at very high speeds.
  • Network Security – Content-based threats are a top security concern for enterprises and service providers today. Tarari's Regular Expression (RegEx) Content Processors and AntiVirus Content Processors are used to accelerate processing in Content Filtering, Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam, Intrusion Detection/Prevention, and Compliance systems.

    BK: Do you expect to be raising future venture rounds?

    RS: With this additional funding, we believe we can get to a positive cash state. However, depending on business opportunities in front of us, I won't be shy to pursue those new markets.

    BK: How many employees does Tarari have, and do you expect any expansion due to this round?

    RS: Tarari currently has 35 employees and will apply the financing towards supporting the ramp of customer engagements and sales, and well as continued product and technology development, for its key target markets.

    BK: Finally, what's Tarari's next big goal?

    RS: We are driving to be the next Intel or Broadcom of the Content Processing marketplace.

    BK: Thanks!