Plano, Texas-based GENBAND, which announced the US$182-million deal in February, said Friday that it’s now wrapped up planning for the integration process and has finalized its executive management team, reporting structure and product roadmaps.
As well, nearly 100 per cent of the 400 employment offers extended to Nortel’s former employees in the division have been accepted, the company said. There will be approximately 500 people in total working for GENBAND in Canada.
“We are pleased to further our vision of fuelling next-generation network migration and IP multimedia services deploymehnt through our successful acquisition of Nortel CVAS technology and talent,” said GENBAND chief executive Charles Vogt in a statement. “By creating one of the most comprehensive, standards-based, interoperable switching portfolios in the world, we will facilitate the industry’s massive and ongoing efforts to modernize networks, maximize existing investments and converge fixed and mobile infrastructures across disparate networks.”
GENBAND has acquired Nortel’s softswitches, media gateways and application platforms and will combine the technology with its own media, session and security gateways, the company said.
The deal means GENBAND will now have strategic product and support facilities in Ottawa, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Maidenhead, Shanghai and Beijing, as well as strategic partners in India and Turkey.
GENBAND paid US$282 million, with balance sheet and other adjustments reducing the net purchase price to $182 million.
The company noted it bought the CVAS business with the help of existing shareholder One Equity Partners, a private equity firm.
“Today’s announcement represents another successful milestone while preserving Nortel’s carrier VoIP technology innovation and base of highly skilled employees,” said Nortel’s chief strategy officer George Riedel. “The sale of our CVAS business to GENBAND enables our global service provider customers to continue to benefit from Nortel’s industry-leading carrier VoIP and telephony expertise and long-standing track record in transitioning time-division multiplexing networks to VoIP.”
GENBAND was originally supposed to be the initial bidder in an auction of the CVAS business, but in February Nortel said it would instead sell the division directly to the U.S. company.
