Siemens Partners with General Bandwidth

Siemens Communications Inc. today unveiled a new strategic relationship with VoIP gateway supplier General Bandwidth. Through the deal, Siemens will integrate Gen Band's G6 Universal Media Gateway into the Siemens Next Generation Exchange (NGE) offering for U.S. service providers. In the North American cable sector, Siemens is the PacketCable softswitch supplier to Cablevision Systems and Shaw Communications. As part of the relationship, Siemens Venture Capital (SVC), a $600 million corporate venture arm of Siemens AG, is increasing its existing equity investment in General Bandwidth. The amount was not disclosed. SVC originally invested in General Bandwidth in February 2001. Interestingly, Siemens rival Alcatel is also a General Bandwidth investor and reseller.