Genband says it has divested itself of BayPackets, the IMS specialist it acquired two years ago

Raymond McConville

July 30, 2008

2 Min Read
Genband Unloads BayPackets

After several years of rapid expansion and scores of acquisitions, Genband Inc. may have bitten off more than it could chew. The media gateway vendor has decided to scale back and, in doing so, it has sold IMS specialist BayPackets, Light Reading has learned.

Genband acquired BayPackets in August 2006. (See Genband Splashes Out for BayPackets.) At the time it gave the company the ability to sell service delivery platform applications, such as unified messaging, to wireless carriers and gave it access to the cable VOIP market.

Now Genband says it sold BayPackets back to its original founders a few weeks ago and will now focus on its media gateway business. "For the most part we made some determinations that we wanted to focus on our core business which is gateways," said Frank Puglia, director of corporate marketing for Genband.

In addition to BayPackets, Genband had also acquired Tekelec 's switching business, a circuit switch business from Siemens AG (NYSE: SI; Frankfurt: SIE), and a media gateway product line from Nokia Networks during the past few years. (See Genband Gets a Gateway to NSN, Genband Takes Tekelec Switch Biz, and GenBand Buys Siemens Unit.)

The sale of BayPackets should also help make Genband's headcount more manageable. At the time of the acquisition two years ago, BayPackets employed 91 people.

Genband was rumored to be looking to buy session border controller vendor NextPoint Networks Inc. On top of an SBC, NexPoint would also give Genband a deep packet inspection capability, which is something that would fit nicely in its business. (See What's NextPoint's NextMove?)

Puglia would not comment on NextPoint, saying: "I think the fact that we've been active lately has fueled rumors, but there's nothing I can comment on now."

— Raymond McConville, Reporter, Light Reading

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