Nortel invests in fax-over-IP company
By John Rendleman
December 16, 1997 1:37 PM PST
PC Week Online
Northern Telecom Ltd. today said its Nortel Communications Holding Ltd. subsidiary has agreed to invest $5 million in Arel Communications and Software Ltd., a Yavne, Israel, developer of fax-over-IP software.
The deal positions Nortel as the exclusive distributor of Arel subsidiary ArelNet's i-Fax software and related products in North America, according to the two companies.
"We believe that our relationship with Nortel will greatly enhance our ability to market our i-Fax system worldwide," said Izhak Gross, chairman of the boards of Arel and ArelNet, in a statement. "Our second-generation i-Fax [gateway] will enable our customers, both service providers and corporate networks, to use the same dial-up Public Switched Telephone Network port for a wide range of dial-tone services, including real-time voice, real-time fax, enhanced fax/voice and data."
Under the terms of the arrangement, Nortel will acquire 20 percent of the outstanding shares of ArelNet in return for its investment and receive options to increase its ownership share, according to officials of the two companies.
One analyst said the deal is a good fit for the two companies.
"ArelNet is a good fax-and-voice-over-IP player," said Ray Keneipp, an analyst at Current Analysis Inc., in Sterling, Va. "We're seeing mainline PBX and carrier vendors jump on the voice-over-IP bandwagon. They're not fighting it like many thought they would. Carriers are accepting it will happen and want a piece of this pie."
(Scott Berinato contributed to this story.)
Hmm, $5mil for just fax over IP....
FTEL needs to get the word out...much more emphasis should be placed on marketing.
Looking to buy another 500 at 4.00
George |
