Broadband Networking Financial News

LTE -- What Voice Services? by Jose Deras

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Broadcom to Acquire Teknovus for EPON Silicon
Broadcom will acquire Teknovus, a leading supplier of Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) chipsets and software for approximately $123 million in cash.

Teknovus offers silicon for EPON at 1G, 2.5G and 10G speeds. It offers both Central Office (OLT) and the Customer Premises (ONU) solutions. The company claims its products are deployed by more than 35 service providers around the world.

The companies note that EPON represents approximately 94% of the FTTx (e.g. Fiber-to-the-Home) connections in the Asia Pacific region. According to the Dell'Oro Group, the Asia Pacific PON market is expected to grow from 22.8 million to 94.5 million subscribers by 2014, a CAGR of 33% (2009-2014).

"Broadcom is known globally for its Ethernet switching expertise," said Greg Caltabiano, President and CEO, Teknovus. "As the EPON market segment evolves and expands, technologies from both companies can be combined to enable a higher performance, lower cost EPON-based access infrastructure."

Broadcom expects that the acquisition of Teknovus will be approximately neutral to earnings per share in 2010.

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IBM to Acquire Initiate Systems for Data Integrity Software
IBM agreed to acquire Initiate Systems, a supplier of data integrity software for information sharing among healthcare and government organizations. Initiate's software speeds the adoption and exchange of electronic medical records.

Initiate Systems is a privately held company based in Chicago, IL and marks the 30th acquisition IBM has made to advance its capabilities in information and analytics. Financial details were not disclosed.

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EC Approves Telef�nica O2's Acquisition of Hansenet
The European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of Hansenet Telekommunikation GmbH of Germany by Telef�nica of Spain. The Commission concluded that the concentration would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it. Telef�nica and Hansenet are not major competitors for each other in any of the relevant markets. Moreover, both the horizontal and the vertical relationships between the activities of Hansenet and Telefonica in Germany are limited and the combined firm would continue to face a number of strong, effective competitors, including the incumbent operator Deutsche Telekom.

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GoAhead Acquires S3's embeddedMIND
GoAhead Software, which specializes in high availability middleware for network equipment and defense applications, will acquire the embeddedMIND business of S3. The deal includes all IP and staff associated with embeddedMIND business. Financial terms were not disclosed.

embeddedMIND, which is based in Poland, develops configuration management software for network equipment manufacturers. The company has been delivering best of breed configuration management software for several years with their commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) solution. embeddedMIND's device configuration uses industry-standard management interfaces such as Command Line, Web / XML, SNMP, and the forthcoming Netconf interface.

GoAhead Software said COTS-based solutions in operating systems and other software layers have enabled equipment manufacturers to bring solutions to market faster than ever. By integrating embeddedMIND's Device Management Capability, it will be able to further reduce developments costs and risks. The embeddedMIND product will also continue to be offered as a stand-alone solution.

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Ericsson Acquires Consulting and Systems Integration Company in Italy
Ericsson agreed to acquire Pride Spa, an Italian consulting and systems integration company with about 1,000 experts in the field. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Ericsson now has 40,000 services professionals around the world.

Jan Frykhammar, CFO and head of Ericsson's Global Services unit, said "We are taking another important step to increase our capabilities in the growing services business. Consulting and systems integration are key areas in a more complex telecom environment when end-user services become more advanced and fixed and mobile networks converge. The acquisition brings 1,000 highly skilled employees to further strengthening our offering in the systems integration and consultancy field."

Over the past five years, Ericsson has acquired five companies in the field of systems integration and consulting:

Audilog, France, September 2004, 60 employees
Teleca OSS, Sweden, July 2005, 40 employees
TUSC, Australia, November 2005, 84 employees
HyC, Spain, December 2007, 110 employees
Bizitek, Turkey, May 2009, 115 employees.

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CA Acquires Oblicore for IT Service Level Management
CA has acquired privately-held Oblicore, a provider of Service Level Management (SLM) software for enterprises and service providers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

CA said the acquisition strengthens its s ability to set, measure and optimize service levels to meet business expectations across enterprise and cloud environments. Specifically, Oblicore's solutions also extend CA's capabilities in cloud vendor management and assurance of cloud service quality. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Oblicore's customers include AT&T, ABN AMRO, British Telecom, Cable & Wireless, France Telecom, ING, Lufthansa Systems, Siemens Medical Solutions, and T-Systems. Oblicore's solutions help these organizations to design, monitor and manage service level agreements across their IT service portfolio in business terms.

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Stephen C. Hassell to Lead Emerson Network Power Division for Data Center Mgt
Emerson announced the combination of its Aperture and Avocent

businesses into a new division that will be led by Stephen C. Hassell, who has served as vice president and chief information officer for Emerson for the past five years.

The new division is part of Emerson Network Power and is headquartered in Huntsville, Ala. The unit combines Avocent's management systems division -- which offers access and control of the physical aspects of network devices and servers -- with Aperture's powerful infrastructure software for a robust portfolio of data center infrastructure management solutions. Emerson acquired Avocent in December 2009 and Aperture in February 2008.

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Motorola Acquire SecureM for Software-based DRM
Motorola agreed to acquire the assets of SecureM, a developer of software-based digital rights management (DRM) and security systems for IP video distribution and management. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

SecureMedia develops and markets software systems for securing the distribution of digital entertainment over multiple platforms to multiple devices, including set-top boxes, wireless handsets, PCs and portable entertainment devices.

SecureMedia's Encryptonite ONE system supplies proven end-to-end security for content in managed IP, mobile, over-the-top (OTT) and hybrid environments. SecureMedia also provides consulting services including installation, training, integration and support.

Motorola said the acquisition enhances its content security product portfolio, enabling it to offer both stand-alone and integrated software security solutions to IP video customers.

SecureMedia is based in Natick, MA, with its core development team in Auckland, New Zealand. The company will now become part of Motorola's Home & Networks Mobility business.

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Lantiq to Acquire Metalink's WLAN Business
Newly-formed Lantiq has agreed to acquire Metalink's wireless local area network (WLAN) business up to $16.9 million in cash. Financial terms include earn-out payments of up to an aggregate $8.0 million, contingent upon the acquired business's achievement of specified performance targets through March 2012.

Metalink's WLANPLUS is a high-throughput, 802.11n-draft-compliant wireless LAN technology optimized for the networked home entertainment environment. Featuring advanced MIMO technology and full support of QoS, and operating in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, WLANPLUS enables multi-room networking of multiple high-definition video streams.

"We are pleased that the strategic process we initiated last year has, despite our difficult financial situation and during an extremely challenging general market conditions, produced a transaction that is in the best interests of Metalink and its shareholders, as well as its employees and customers," commented Tzvika Shukhman, Metalink's Chief Executive Officer.

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GENBAND Bids for Nortel's Carrier VoIP and Application Business
GENBAND reached an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Nortel's Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions (CVAS) business for a purchase price of US$282 million, subject to balance sheet and other adjustments currently estimated at approximately US$100 million. The deal is a "stalking horse" arrangement subject to additional bids and requires U.S. and Canadian court approvals for bidding procedures, including a bid deadline and tentative auction date.

These agreements include the planned sale of substantially all assets of the CVAS business globally including softswitching, gateways and SIP applications. These agreements also include all patents and intellectual property that are predominantly used in the CVAS business.

GENBAND has teamed with one of its existing shareholders, One Equity Partners III, L.P. (OEP), to assist in financing the proposed purchase of Nortel's CVAS assets. OEP manages investments and commitments for JP Morgan Chase & Co. in private equity transactions.

"The proposed transaction represents a clear and positive step forward for Nortel's CVAS customers, employees, and business. Today's announcement is a strong endorsement of our continued leadership in the Carrier VoIP market where we have held the #1 position since 2002," said Samih Elhage, President of Nortel's CVAS business.

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Ireland's Altobrige Acquires ADC's GSM Base Station and Switching Portfolio
Altobridge has acquired ADC's portfolio of GSM base station and switching products for an undisclosed sum.

The deal includes ADC's existing GSM base station and switching product customer base. Altobridge will retain all of the employees necessary to support the business. In addition, Altobridge is acquiring certain assets and intellectual property related to the product portfolio.

The ADC GSM base station and switching product portfolio supports remote wireless and small national networks, as well as government, emergency and private network communications. Altobridge said these products complement its offerings in several markets, including its Fully Managed Service business for meeting the growing communication needs of emerging markets, and solutions for optimising voice and data transmission for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).

"Mobile Network Operators face a major challenge to deliver accelerating voice and data traffic for declining returns. Altobridge will continue to innovate and deliver further solutions that drive down these underlying communication costs," said Mike Fitzgerald, CEO of Altobridge. "This acquisition will enable Altobridge to broaden our Intellectual Property portfolio and grow our Fully Managed Service business as we work hand in hand with MNOs striving to connect their subscriber groups at lower costs."

Altobridge is headquartered at Kerry Technology Park, Ireland with regional offices in Tyson's Corner, Virginia, USA and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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Telef�nica acquires JAJAH for EUR 145 Million
Telef�nica acquired JAJAH, a start-up that offers an IP Communications platform enables consumers to make free long-distance and global calls online The deal was valued at EUR 145 million ($207 million) in cash.

With JAJAH, consumers simply enter their phone on the JAJAH site along with their friend's phone number anywhere in the world. JAJAH then sets up an Internet call between both parties. JAJAH services are used in around 200 countries by millions of people and are integrated into everyday instant messaging and social media applications, as well as through its own JAJAH direct-to-consumer offer.

Matthew Key, Chairman and CEO of Telef�nica Europe, said: "The acquisition of JAJAH broadens the scope of our communications offering and opens up new capabilities in the voicem communication space. People using social networking sites such as Twitter now have an even wider range of communications channels available � and have the option of speaking directly to each other as well as communicating by text or keyboard."

JAHJAH is based in Mountain View, California with offices in Ra`anana, Israel.

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Limelight Networks to Acquire EyeWonder for Monetization Tools
Limelight Networks, which operates a global content delivery network (CDN) will acquire privately held EyeWonder. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 1999, EyeWonder specializes in monetization solutions that helps Forbes 2000 advertisers, interactive agencies and content publishers create, build, track and optimize rich media and interactive video advertising campaigns. EyeWonder's advertising serving platform is projected to service over $500 million in media spend globally in 2009, helping stakeholders across the digital advertising ecosystem to realize increased return-on-investment from that spend.

The companies said the combination of EyeWonder's value-added monetization solutions and Limelight Networks' delivery, storage, management and consulting services will enable enterprises, agencies and content publishers to unlock the value of their online content and maximize the revenue and profitability of their online strategies. The combined company will have relationships with over 2500 online businesses, over 800 interactive agencies, 900 last-mile access networks and over 20 ecosystem partners who, together, will working toward building a more efficient and intelligent Internet.

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Cisco Completes Starent Acquisition -- Mobile Packet Core
Cisco completed its previously announced acquisition of Starent Networks, a supplier of IP based mobile infrastructure solutions targeting mobile and converged carriers. Starent now becomes part of Cisco's new Mobile Internet Technology Group within the Service Provider Group (SPG). In addition, Ashraf Dahod, former president and CEO of Starent Networks, becomes senior vice president and general manager of this new group, reporting to Pankaj Patel, senior vice president and general manager of SPG.

Cisco paid $35 per share in cash in exchange for each share of Starent Networks and assumed outstanding equity awards for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $2.9 billion.

Starent provides the multimedia intelligence, core network functions and services to manage access from any 2.5G, 3G, and 4G radio network to a mobile operator's packet core network. Starent Networks' access-independent technology is deployed in CDMA2000 (1X, EV-DO), UMTS/HSPA and WiMAX networks

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Avaya Competes Acquisition of Nortel's Enterprise Solutions Business
Avaya completed its acquisition of Nortel's global Enterprise Solutions business as well as the shares of Nortel Government Solutions Incorporated and DiamondWare. Approximately 6,000 NES employees have joined Avaya, including 25 top managers. Joel Hackney, previously president, Nortel Enterprise Solutions, joins the Avaya Executive Committee as senior vice president and president, Avaya Government Solutions and Data.

The deal enhances Avaya's strategic position in providing business communications solutions and services for enterprise customers. Avaya will now begin the work to integrate the operations and customer care functions of the two organizations. The company expects to provide information about the new combined product portfolio and roadmap within the next 30 days.

The sale of certain Enterprise Solutions assets held by Israeli subsidiaries remains subject to court approval in Israel.

"The completion of this acquisition represents another major step in Avaya's evolution and growth in the communications industry," said Kevin J. Kennedy, president and CEO, Avaya. "Avaya and Nortel Enterprise Solutions share a common vision for the future of business communications. By combining our complementary technology portfolios, deep industry specific domain expertise, sales channels and customer bases, the new Avaya will redefine business communications and help customers to reduce costs, simplify operations and increase their business agility."

"This is our second, large-scale business divestiture, and it represents significant progress on Nortel's plan to preserve the value of its innovation, while maximizing value through the sale of its businesses," said Pavi Binning, Chief Restructuring Officer, Nortel.

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Atheros Completes Acquisition of Intellon for Powerline Chips
Atheros Communications completed its acquisition of Intellon Corporation. With this acquisition, Atheros enhances its networking technology portfolio to include Intellon's powerline communications (PLC) solutions for home networking, networked entertainment, broadband-over-powerline (BPL) access, Ethernet-over- Coax (EoC) and smart grid management applications.

Intellon, which is based in Orlando, Florida, specializes in powerline communications, providing HomePlug compliant and other powerline integrated circuits for home networking, networked entertainment, BPL access, Ethernet-over-Coax (EoC), smart grid management and other commercial applications. Intellon created and patented the baseline technology for HomePlug 1.0, and is a major contributor to the baseline technology for the 200-Mbps PHY-rate HomePlug AV powerline standard and the draft IEEE P1901 powerline standard. The company has sold more than 34 million HomePlug-based ICs to date.

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AT&T Expects to Complete Asset Deal with Verizon Wireless in Q1 2010
AT&T anticipates its pending acquisition of wireless assets from Verizon Wireless to be completed in the first quarter of 2010. In addition, AT&T anticipates its pending sale of former Centennial Communications Corp. wireless assets to Verizon Wireless to be completed in the first quarter of 2010.

On May 8, 2009, the two companies entered into an agreement under which AT&T would acquire properties from Verizon Wireless, including licenses, network assets and 1.5 million subscribers (as of signing) in 79 service areas across 18 states. Verizon Wireless is required to divest these properties as part of the regulatory approvals granted for its purchase of Alltel earlier this year. The transaction primarily represents former Alltel assets, but it also includes assets from Verizon Wireless and the former Rural Cellular Corporation. At the same time, the companies entered into an agreement under which Verizon Wireless would acquire from AT&T wireless properties, including licenses, network assets and nearly 120,000 subscribers (as of signing) in five service areas in Louisiana and Mississippi. The five service areas are Lafayette, La., LA-5 (Beauregard), LA-6 (Iberville), LA-7 (West Feliciana) and MS-8 (Claiborne).

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Siemens Appoints Deutsche Telekom Exec as New CEO
Siemens Enterprise Communications Group (SEN Group) has appointed Hamid Akhavan as its new CEO. Mark Stone, interim CEO over recent months will resume his duties as Executive Chairman and remain part of the Executive Board.

Hamid Akhavan joins SEN Group from Deutsche Telekom, where he serves as Chief Operating Officer, where he was responsible for mobile communications on the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom since 2006, when he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of T-Mobile International AG. Prior to joining T-Mobile International he served as Chief Technical Officer and Chief Information Officer at Teligent Inc, an international broadband fixed and wireless access company.

The SEN Group is a premier provider of end-to-end enterprise communications, including voice, network infrastructure and security solutions that use open, standards-based architectures to unify communications and business applications for a seamless collaboration experience.

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Cisco Controls More Than 90% of the Shares in TANDBERG
Cisco has now received acceptances for or purchased shares representing more than 90% of the shares in TANDBERG, allowing it move ahead with the acquisition

On Thursday, Cisco received a second request for additional information from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) with respect to its previously announced proposed acquisition of TANDBERG.

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Starent Settles Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit
Starent Networks and the other named defendants reached a settlement in a shareholder class lawsuit n connection with the proposed acquisition of Starent Networks by Cisco Systems.

If the court approves the settlement contemplated in the memorandum, the lawsuit will be dismissed with prejudice. Starent Networks and the other defendants deny all of the allegations in the lawsuit and believe the disclosures are appropriate under the law. Nevertheless, Starent Networks and the other defendants have agreed to settle the putative class action lawsuit in order to avoid costly litigation and reduce the risk of any delay to the closing of the merger.

Pursuant to the terms of the memorandum, Starent Networks has agreed to provide additional information to stockholders through publicly available filings in order to supplement the proxy statement that has been provided to Starent Networks' stockholders in connection with the special meeting of stockholders concerning the proposed merger.

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Broadcom to Acquire Teknovus for EPON Silicon

03-Feb-10

IBM to Acquire Initiate Systems for Data Integrity Software

03-Feb-10

EC Approves Telefónica O2's Acquisition of Hansenet

29-Jan-10

GoAhead Acquires S3's embeddedMIND

14-Jan-10

Ericsson Acquires Consulting and Systems Integration Company in Italy

12-Jan-10

CA Acquires Oblicore for IT Service Level Management