Broadsoft Swallows Sylantro

9:40 AM -- BroadSoft Inc. has acquired VoIP system rival Sylantro Systems Corp. for an undisclosed sum, the two companies announced Monday.

The two privately held vendors were the main rivals in the hosted VoIP system market for a long time, but BroadSoft, which has built and exploited a broad range of strong partnerships, emerged as the market leader in the past few years, leaving Sylantro in a weakened position. (See Telstra Goes Big With BroadSoft, HR Reveals Leaders, Broadsoft, MSOFT Team Up, BroadSoft Tackles Web 2.0, IBM, Broadsoft Hit 100, Light Reading's Top Ten Private Companies, and Ericsson Resells BroadSoft.)

BroadSoft says it "intends" to support Sylantro's Synergy application server platform, which, according to Sylantro, has been deployed by hundreds of service providers. (See KT Uses Sylantro and Swisscom Deploys Sylantro.)

While the purchase price was not announced it's believed the amount involved was small. If that's the case, it means Sylantro's backers, who have invested more than $100 million in the company over the years, will be seeing little, if anything, of a return. (See Sylantro Raises Another $11M.)

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading