Sonus' Acquisition of NET Creates Portfolio of Session Border Controllers for All Enterprises

By Rich Steeves
TMCnet Web Editor

Long-term strategic planning is key to any business and, when a company follows its vision, it is pleasing to see the puzzle pieces fall into place, giving a picture of what that company has been planning for so long. Such is the case with Sonus, which has been working toward being a 100 percent channel focused, channel driven company, providing session border controllers for enterprises of all sizes. Now, with Sonus’ acquisition of Network Equipment Technologies (News - Alert) finally complete, the SBC specialist is one step closer to that goal.

The acquisition of NET was announced on Friday and today marks the first day of the integration of the two companies. In an interview with TMC (News - Alert), Todd Abbott, senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing for Sonus, stated that the company had several reasons for acquiring NET, including the expansion of Sonus’ session border controller product line, a stronger integration with Microsoft Lync, and the ability to obtain government contracts.

Since Sonus has recently been focused on the enterprise and unified communications in the cloud, it has intended to extend its product line and be fully enterprise channel ready. In June, Sonus unveiled the SBC 5100, which is intended for the large enterprise. Also in June, the company announced its new global channel program, Sonus Partner Assure. Since it already had a firm grasp on the larger enterprises, it became important for Sonus to extend its portfolio to the small office space, and the products from NET (News - Alert) will do that. According to Abbott, the NET UX1000 and 2000 Lync gateways will now be rebranded as Sonus products, and are perfect for small offices that don’t necessarily have a SIP trunk.

A second reason for the acquisition, said Abbott, was the pre-existing, well established relationship that NET had with Microsoft. While Sonus’ SBCs do work seamlessly with Microsoft Lync, it is a fairly new relationship. NET, on the other hand, had a strong relationship with Microsoft and, with the acquisition, Sonus now boasts four of the seven Microsoft Lync certified SBCs in the enterprise space.

Abbott also noted that, as a bonus, the acquisition of NET will give Sonus a faster go to market strategy for federal governmental contracts than if it had started from scratch. NET already had a strong relationship with the federal government, including an install base and a sales team.

In the next week or so, the 150+ employees of NET will integrate with Sonus and each group will undergo cross training. All of NET’s customers will come in under the Sonus Partner Assure program, and any that are interested in training and certification will be able to help extend the company’s product line. Thus, this acquisition represents an important piece in the puzzle for Sonus’ dedication to being a 100 percent channel focused, channel-driven company. And that puzzle is starting to look a lot like the picture on the box.

Sonus Networks (News - Alert) is a Platinum sponsor of ITEXPO West 2012. To be held Oct. 2-5 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX, ITEXPO (News - Alert)  is the world’s premier IP communications event. Visit Sonus Networks in booth # 901.Mykola Konrad, Director of Enterprise Product Management, and Raymond P. Dolan, President and Chief Executive Officer, will be keynote speakers at the event. For more information on IEXPO West 2012 click here.

Edited by Amanda Ciccatelli