BATM's Secret Slips Out

In an industry increasingly replete with news of multimillion dollar deals with unnamed customers and partners, it's nice to see some companies drop the odd hint about the identity of their secret bedfellows.

BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (London: BVC), parent of Ethernet equipment vendor Telco Systems (BATM) did the honors today, albeit unwittingly. It issued a press release announcing an OEM deal with "a distinguished and very professional global supplier". (See BATM Signs OEM).

The identity of BATM's partner wasn't disclosed but the company also sent Light Reading the press release as a Word document, file name "foundery" (sic).

Could this possibly refer to Foundry Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: FDRY)? BATM's spokesperson declined to comment (after a period of, um, reflection). She went on to confirm that the company in this case wasn't the subject of a previous OEM deal with "one of the world’s leading telecom suppliers" announced last November. (See BATM Rises On Major Deal.)

Foundry hadn't responded to questions about its possible relationship with BATM at the time this article was published.

Still, news of the OEM deal was enough to push BATM's share price up by 1.25 pence, more than 4 percent, to 30.25 pence, a cool 50 percent higher than the 20 pence the stock commanded a year ago.

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading