Taqua LLC has acquired SIP-based mobile telephony convergence specialist Tatara Systems Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

The deal gives Taqua a foot in the femtocell market and a new Tier 1 operator customer since Tatara's convergence server product (now called the Taqua convergence server TCS 6100), is deployed in Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S)'s femto network.

The TCS 6100 product sits between femto access points and an operator's core network. In IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networks, it acts as a SIP application server. In pre-IMS networks, the product performs the SIP-mobile switching center (MSC) interworking function.

But Taqua's interest in this acquisition goes beyond femtocells: it has its eye on Long Term Evolution (LTE). Later this year, Taqua plans to develop the product to support voice over LTE (VoLTE).

Tatara's partners for system integration and femtocells include Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC), Nokia Networks , Airvana Inc. , AirWalk Communications Inc. and Ubiquisys Ltd.

For a refresher, Taqua was founded in 1998 as a Class 5 switch vendor that later added VoIP functionality. It was acquired by Tekelec in 2004, then sold to Genband Inc. in 2007 and eventually spun out on its own later in 2007. [Ed note: The history is all here in this handy Taqua FAQua.] Since then, the company has added wireless support to its T7000 switching platform and, most recently, developed a non-line of site (NLOS) wireless backhaul technology for 3G and LTE small cells. (See Taqua Debuts Backhaul System.)

Why this matters
From its beginnings as a Class 5 switch vendor, Taqua's latest moves show that it wants to be a player in next-generation mobile networks. With a small cell backhaul proposition, and now, with the convergence server from Tatara, the vendor is targeting two of the hottest technology areas in mobile networks -- small cells and VoLTE.

For more
For more history on Taqua and Tatara, check out these stories:

— Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Light Reading Mobile