Ericsson maintains run of acquisitions with cloud specialist Sentilla

Ericsson said it is now better placed to assist companies through the minefield of mobility and cloud technologies, after completing an acquisition of network software company Sentilla.

The Swedish vendor said the acquisition of the U.S.-based infrastructure intelligence software company will enhance its ability to help service providers offer managed services to IT organisations covering mobile and cloud technologies. The acquisition includes all Sentilla employees, who will be incorporated into Ericsson's Support Solutions business unit.

Ericsson said Sentilla has expertise in data gathering, performance monitoring, policy engine, and reporting--all elements the vendor believes will improve its Cloud Manager and Expert Analytics products.

"As more businesses leverage mobility and cloud-based applications, the unique combination of automation and just-in-time intelligence that we can provide enables necessary agility and responsiveness," said Elisabetta Romano, VP and head of OSS and Service Enablement at Ericsson's Support Solutions business unit.

Sentilla CEO Mike Kaul said leveraging Ericsson's capabilities will enable his company to "support dynamic optimisation of workloads across physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructures," something that is "imperative for service providers".

The acquisition is Ericsson's second in the cloud sector in as many months. In September the vendor agreed a deal to acquire cloud storage, computing, and video network delivery company Fabrix Systems to boost its TV and media portfolio.

That deal came two months after the vendor announced plans to acquire U.S.-based MetraTech, in a move Ericsson said extended its billing systems capabilities into areas including Everything as a Services (XaaS) and Internet of Things (IoT).

Ericsson has also detailed plans to lay-off around 1,000 of the 1,582 staff employed in its LTE thin modem business to enable it to focus more on its radio networks unit. The vendor took on the staff when it ended a chipset joint venture with STMicroelectronics in 2013, and plans to shift the remaining employees to its radio network R&D division.

For more:
- read Ericsson's Sentilla statement

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