Sonus Networks, a provider of session initiation protocol (SIP) and session border control (SBC) technology, is paying $30 million to acquire Performance Technologies in a quest to gain Diameter signaling capabilities and advance its mobility and virtualization strategies.
Performance Technologies' IP-centric SEGway signaling products includes Diameter Signaling Controllers (DSC), which anchor the authentication, authorization and accounting messages sent across the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture of wireless LTE networks. The company's SEGway products are deployed in more than 1,000 locations globally.
The acquisition will expand and diversify Sonus' portfolio with an integrated, virtualized Diameter and SIP-based solution. Sonus described the Diameter signaling controller market as "a natural extension" of the session border controller market. "SBCs and DSCs both serve as points of entry into core IP networks by providing security, admission control, intelligent routing and interworking capabilities," the company said.
Exact Ventures forecasts that the Diameter market will grow by an average of 42 percent per year from 2013 through 2017, to reach nearly $1 billion. Sonus said its takeover of Performance Technologies should increase the combined company's total addressable market by 50 percent, from approximately $2 billion to nearly $3 billion in 2017, when combining the SBC and Diameter markets.
Sonus said the planned acquisition will enable it "to expand and diversify its portfolio with an integrated, virtualized Diameter and SIP-based solution and deliver strategic value to service providers seeking to offer new multimedia services through mobile, cloud-based, real-time communications."
The acquisition agreement has already been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. The transaction will be funded using Sonus' existing cash on hand, the company said.
For more:
- see this Sonus release
- see this Wall Street Journal article (sub. req.)
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