So the rumors were true! (See Telcordia Acquired?)

Ericsson AB is to acquire Telcordia Technologies Inc. for US$1.15 billion in cash, the Swedish vendor announced Tuesday. (See Ericsson to Acquire Telcordia.)

The move will make Ericsson one of the biggest Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) vendors in the global market when the deal closes, as it will add its existing OSS and BSS capabilities to Telcordia's extensive suite of software products and services that generated revenues of $739 million in the 12 months to Jan. 31, 2011.

About 2,600 staff will join Ericsson as part of the deal, which, says the European giant, "reinforces and expands Ericsson's position as [a] leading player in [the] operations support systems/business support systems (OSS/BSS) market with key position in service fulfilment, assurance, network optimization and real-time charging."

Ericsson's CEO Hans Vestberg noted in the official news announcement that "the importance of operations and business support systems will continue to grow as more and more devices are connected, services become mobile and new business models for mobile broadband are introduced. In this context, Telcordia brings very skilled people and knowledge, a large business in North America and other markets, as well as a good multi vendor product portfolio."

Light Reading reported industry speculation in early May that Telcordia was in the process of being acquired, though at that stage the identity of the buyer was unknown.

Subsequent industry gossip pointed to Hewlett-Packard Co. as the likely buyer, but that speculation proved wide of the mark. (See Telcordia's Suitor Identified.)

Talk that Telcordia was once again on the block surfaced earlier this year, prompting an examination of the company's business and the question, What's Telcordia Worth?

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading