Fresh on the heels of its acquisition of VoIP solutions provider
Nuera Communications, VoIP technology provider
AudioCodes is reportedly about to acquire
Netrake Corporation, a leading provider of session border controllers and media gateway solutions, for approximately $11 million. Following the transaction, Netrake will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of AudioCodes (
News -
Alert).
The deal will significantly strengthen AudioCodes’ fixed mobile convergence and IMS offerings. Netrake is a leading maker of session border controllers and media gateways - critical components for the secure delivery of Voice and Video over IP. Netrake’s media gateways enable secure, real-time sessions across WiFi (
News -
Alert), broadband and wireless networks in FMC deployments.
“This agreement with Netrake provides AudioCodes with more products to help service providers and network equipment providers in enabling connectivity between disparate VoIP networks and deploying Fixed Mobile Convergence as well as IP Multimedia Subsystem (
News -
Alert) (IMS) networks in the future,” said Shabtai Adlersberg, chairman, president and CEO of AudioCodes, in a
press release.
Bruce Hill, CEO of Netrake, said his company’s products “fit well with AudioCodes’ vision of enabling IMS networks.”
“This acquisition offers an even better future for our employees, customers and partners as we combine Netrake’s products with AudioCodes financial strength, product portfolio and proven capability to deliver to NEPs and service providers,” Hill said.
The transaction is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2006. As per the terms of the deal, AudioCodes will pay $10 million in cash at closing, plus an additional $1 million if Netrake achieves certain financial targets.
The deal follows
AudioCodes’ acquisition of Nuera Communications for $85 million in cash, which was announced May 16 and finalized today. Under the terms of that agreement, AudioCodes had agreed to pay up to an additional $5 million if Nuera had achieved certain revenue milestones during the first 12 months after consummation of the transaction.
“We are very pleased to announce the completion of the Nuera Communications acquisition” Adlersberg said in a separate
press release. “We are now better positioned in the Voice over Broadband market. We have also added Reliance, Cox and Rogers among others as customers and we have increased the scale of our company to better service our network equipment provider and service provider customers.”
Netrake is perhaps best known for its nCite session controller and security gateway product portfolio, which provides secure connectivity for wireline, wireless, cable, and fixed/mobile operators delivering VoIP and other multimedia applications across all IP networks. The company’s nCite products support carrier-to-carrier peering as well as residential/ISP and business VoIP access services, all while allowing service providers to extend their VoIP traffic across multiple types of network borders.
Netrake
made news in June when it announced that its nCite session border controllers had been chosen by telecom broadband services provider
360networks for its new SIPConnect Service.
360networks’ SIPConnect is designed for cable operators (MSOs), ISPs, broadband service providers and VoIP service providers across the country. The partnership calls for Netrake’s nCite Session Border Controllers (SBCs) to be installed at interconnection and peering points in 360’s network. The SBCs secure the network, ensure quality of service, and deliver Service Level Agreement (SLA) compliance.
For more information, visit
http://www.audiocodes.com or
http://www.netrake.com.
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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.
