BOCA RATON, FL – The burgeoning popularity of touch screen devices has tapped into investors’ pocketbooks. OpenPeak, a Boca Raton-based company selling multi-media touch screen devices and device management software, has raised $52 million in equity and debt funding. Intel Capital and existing investors, who put $30 million into the firm previously, supplied the equity.

Horizon Technology Finance and Velocity Financial Group and a distribution finance and working capital line from GE Capital’s Commercial Distribution Finance unit provided the debt funding.

“New usage models and innovative mobile form factors are enhancing the way the world consumes content, and are a strategic focus for Intel Capital,” said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and Intel executive vice president. “OpenPeak’s hardware, software and services harness the capabilities of the Intel Atom processor, creating new mobile, digital home and embedded products in a variety of vertical market segments.”

The company recently announced its OpenTablet 7, a portable touch-screen device that can include its energy management solution. The company says the device can serve as a full-service home office or office communications and energy system command center.

The OpenTablet 7 is based on the Intel® Atom processor-based platform (formerly “Moorestown”) which delivers outstanding performance at low power. The device features a high-resolution 7-inch multi-touch TFT LCD screen with LED backlighting, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and cellular connectivity, HDMI output and dual cameras for capturing both high-definition video and still images, as well as built-in speakers and microphone.

OpenPeak’s complementary software framework enables designers and developers to create highly interactive applications. Integrated device management services allow providers to remotely provision, monitor and update customer devices on demand over broadband networks to ensure the delivery of the most up-to-date services and software.

Despite all the hype and hoopla over the iPad, we see many competing devices coming out, including this one, with more features and fewer limitations.

We’re still not convinced this touch-screen tablet fad is going to be sustainable, although consumers will certainly have a wide range of choices in the devices by the end of the year or sooner. But we can understand investor interest in the space, considering how well the iPad is doing despite its inability to handle Flash, it’s inaccessible battery, and its lack of multi-tasking capabilities.