Network giants move toward convergence with acquisitions
July 30, 1998
InfoWorld Electric via NewsEdge Corporation : Cisco
Systems and Lucent Technologies on Tuesday each
moved to bring together voice and data networks,
acquiring companies that make multiservice hardware and
software.
Data networking giant Cisco agreed to buy voice switch
vendor Summa Four, gaining platforms for voice-over-IP
offerings. Lucent, continuing a bold series of
data-networking acquisitions, bought MassMedia
Communications, a developer of software for interworking
data and voice protocols.
Both companies have stated their intentions to build the
combined voice-and-data carrier networks of the future.
Both acquisitions should allow them to help service
providers make the transition to multiservice
infrastructures in which voice and video traffic rides on a
single data pipe.
With the purchase, Cisco intends to offer Summa Four's
programmable voice switches to new and existing service
providers, including those setting up voice-over-IP
services.
Based on the current value of Cisco shares, the stock swap
would be valued at approximately $116 million. Summa
Four's 210 employees will become part of Cisco's service
provider line of business. Cisco officials expect the deal to
be approved by early November.
Summa Four's switches perform basic call switching as well
as value-added functions such as voice mail, intelligent
800-number call routing, voice-activated dialing, and IP
telephony. According to the company, more than 50
application developers have written software for Summa
Four's standards-based switches.
The company's flagship Virtual Central Office switches can
be deployed both as carrier service node switches and as
transport devices in the core of a carrier network. Its
Project Sigma switch platform, co-developed with Dialogic,
uses a Windows NT development environment and
compact PCI components.
MassMedia's AdaptNet software is designed to provide
interoperability for carrying voice and video
communications across WANs.
Based on a signaling-independent call model, the software
extends call control across several network domains,
including corporate access, ATM backbones, and public
and private voice networks. It reconciles the signaling of
ATM, ISDN, SS7, the H.323 multimedia protocol, and other
technologies.
Lucent currently uses MassMedia software with its
PacketStar ATM access products to connect ISDN and
ATM networks. The company did not disclose the cost of
its purchase of MassMedia, a privately held company with
12 employees.
In a buying spree that began last fall, Lucent has
purchased remote-access router maker Livingston
Enterprises, Gigabit Ethernet switch start-up Prominet,
ATM access switch maker Yurie Systems, and LAN
equipment vendor Lannet.
Cisco Systems Inc., in San Jose, Calif., can be reached at
cisco.com. Summa Four, in Manchester, N.H.,
can be reached at summafour.com. Lucent
Technologies Inc., in Murray Hill, N.J., is at
lucent.com. MassMedia Communications Inc.,
in Natick, Mass., is at massmediacom.com.
<A
HREF="mailto:stephen_lawson@infoworld.com">Stephen
Lawson</A> is a senior writer for InfoWorld.
Related articles:
"Cisco helps link voice and data networking"
"Lucent acquires ATM access vendor Yurie"
"Lucent pumps up data communications efforts"
<<InfoWorld Electric -- 07-28-98>>
[Copyright 1998, InfoWorld]
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