Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) has acquired yet another piece of Nortel Networks Ltd. 's former empire with the purchase of the Canadian vendor's multiservice switch business.The unit includes Nortel's well known Shasta switches and the ATM product line formerly known as Passport. Ericsson says the switches will help it support the CDMA and GSM radio access network product lines it has already bought from Nortel.

Nortel announced that an auction process for the multiservice switch unit was underway late last month when it accepted an initial $39 million bid from Marlin Equity Partners. Ericsson, though, clearly outbid the private investment firm. (See Nortel Preps Shasta Sale.)

Ericsson has previously acquired a number of Nortel assets, including its stake in a Korean joint venture, its North American GSM business, and the Canadian firm's CDMA and LTE assets. (See Ericsson Completes LG-Nortel Buy, Ericsson Snaps Up LG-Nortel Stake, Ericsson Buys Nortel's GSM Biz Too, Nortel Wireless Winner: It's Ericsson!, and Ericsson Delivers Knockout Blow to NSN.)

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading