cisco buffers pbx offerings by acquiring selsius systems
October 21, 1998 CTI News via NewsEdge Corporation -- While its TV
commercial catch phrase "Are you ready?" is
directed at potential customers, San Jose,
Calif.-based Cisco Systems Inc. [CSCO] may well be
asking the same of its competition after acquiring
privately-held Selsius Systems Inc. of Dallas last
week.
By spending $145 million in common stock and cash
to grab Selsius, a 51-employee supplier of network
PBX systems for high- quality telephony over IP
networks, Cisco can accelerate the transition from
conventional, pro-prietary circuit-switched PBXs to
multiservice, open LAN systems capable of aiding
the next step in data/voice integration.
"Cisco has fired the starting pistol in the race to kill
the PBX," says Jay Batson, CEO of PingTel, a
Boston-based startup also building Selsius-style IP
PBX systems. "In a single deal, they have defined
what new enterprise voice systems will look like.
"In five years, all voice systems will be fully-native
IP systems with Ethernet phones, call control
software on servers, and IP/PSTN gateways to
connect to the 'old world,' " he says. "Every player
that wants a piece of the voice action must follow
Cisco's lead onto the IP PBX train - or get left
behind."
Such an acquisition could help the market for open
NT-based PBXs take off, says John Money, vice
president of research for Boston-based H.C.
Wainwright & Co., an equity research house.
"I really do expect Cisco to be a strong player in
this market," Money says. "There are other
communications server companies now that will
scramble to find their own partnerships."
Selsius' IP phones and call manager software initially
will enable small and medium businesses and branch
offices to migrate voice traffic onto packet data
networks. Cisco will extend the technology to the
full campus environment and enable virtual call
centers and unified messaging.
The acquisition is subject to various closing
conditions.
(Jay Batson, PingTel, 781/238-5758; John Money,
H.C. Wainwright & Co., 617/227-3100; Doug Wills,
Cisco, 408/527-9475, cisco.com.)
CTI Industry Stock Price Performance Oct. 19, 1998
Company 10/19/98 1-week 1-month 3-month
Ticker change change change
Allstar
ALLS $1.8 120.83% -34.09% -51.67%
ALLTEL
AT $44.75 -3.24% -0.42% 2.58%
Applied Voice
AVTC $16.63 -6.34% -23.12% -23.04%
Aspect
ASPT $12.69 -24.81% -50.00% -62.89%
AT&T
T $61.63 5.12% 4.45% 4.34%
Brooktrout
BRKT $13.50 3.85% -1.82% -23.40%
Centigram
CGRM $6.38 8.51% -30.14% -44.57%
Comdial
CMDL $9.25 17.46% 15.63% -32.11%
Dialogic
DLGC $20.69 -5.97% -25.11% -43.13%
Executone
XTON $0.84 8.00% -27.03% -57.81%
Genesys
GCTI $21.13 59.43% 8.68% -34.75%
GeoTel
GEOC $22.38 -5.79% 11.18% 5.29%
IBM
IBM $139.38 6.49% 11.78% 15.96%
Inter-Tel
INTL $14.13 31.40% -7.38% -19.57%
Linkon
LKON $0.81 4.00% -18.75% -45.83%
Lucent
LU $76.00 14.07% 4.38% -19.89%
MCI Worldcom
WCOM $50.94 7.66% 9.25% -9.14%
Melita
MELI $11.00 36.43% 18.92% -23.48%
Microsoft
MSFT $102.94 3.20% -2.31% -12.72%
Mitel
MLT $9.00 6.67% -9.43% -38.20%
Mosaix
MOSX $5.69 18.18% 26.39% -20.18%
Natural Microsystems
NMSS $7.38 -21.33% -30.99% -42.72%
Nice Systems
NICEY $14.88 17.82% -52.96% -61.61%
NEC
NIPNY $35.19 0.18% 4.26% -26.50%
Nortel
NT $35.69 26.33% -12.15% -35.55%
Periphonics
PERI $5.06 0.00% -15.15% -17.34%
Premiere
PTEK $5.44 52.63% -0.57% -38.30%
Rockwell
ROK $35.69 4.39% -10.22% -25.16%
Sun
SUNW $50.75 12.78% 4.24% -2.40%
Sprint
FON $75.19 7.22% 3.80% 2.65%
Source: CTI NEWS
[Copyright 1998, Phillips Publishing] |
