Packet Engines was not a public corporation. I have no idea what their revenues were.
They have been claiming leadership in Gigabit Ethernet ports shipped, but the port count only includes domestic ports shipped, and MRVC ships a lot Internationally. They also don't have the strong supporting cast of products.
Being bought, keeping your name and receiving funding from a parent company doesn't sound so bad, does it? I have a feeling the same will happen with INTC ultimately buying MRVC.
I expect that this won't happen until the price gets back to reasonable levels - sometime next year. I'm hoping to see INTC or someone else first as a strategic partner, which, coupled with several upcoming product announcements would get the price back to July levels at least.
Today's announcement is really a major one - especially when you add in the DWDM and Optical products and the upcoming OC-48 and also OC-192 connectivity. A total strategic solution is emerging, which will be VERY ATTRACTIVE to CLECs, enterprises and MAN/Campus networks.
This is a way to increase a user's capacity several fold ON THE SAME FIBER runs they currently have - even freeing up one of each fiber pair! Couple this with their long distance GE, their full product line, their 1-to-many Dynamic DWDM with routing, switching and cross-connects at the optical layer, AND their upcoming Terabit router and they have a better next-generation network solution than ANYONE - and probably at reasonable prices too. This offers smaller CLECs/ISPs a way to increase capacity and compete with the big boys without some of the major capital costs they would otherwise require to grow.
What they need to pull this all off is a large parent/strategic partner to increase their sales volume, provide some investment capital, and open up doors to the carrier community.
The next 6-9 months should be very interesting. |
