Legrand buys Champion ONE, related brands for greater optical networking play
Communications infrastructure specialists Legrand say they have acquired Champion ONE and its associated brands from A&M Capital Opportunities. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The purchase includes Champion ONE, Approved Networks, and U.S. Critical.
Champion ONE provides optical transceivers, switches, and related products to the telecommunication, content provider, data center, and enterprise markets (see, for example, “Champion ONE offers 200G and 400G optical transceivers,” “Champion ONE offers 100-Gbps PAM4 active DWDM open line systems,” and “Champion ONE offers 100G open white box switch”). It merged with Approved Networks and U.S. Critical this past June (see “Champion ONE, Approved Networks merge for expanded capabilities”). Approved Networks extended Champion ONE’s reach beyond its traditional telco customer space, adding products for the enterprise/data center and education customer segments. U.S. Critical supplies interoperability testing and coding resources.
The C1 family will join fellow acquisitions AFCO, Electrorack, Ortronics, Raritan, Server Technology, and Starline in Legrand North and Central America’s Data, Power and Control (DPC) division. “The C1 family of brands complement Legrand’s previous acquisitions to provide strong world-class engineering talent for unrivaled, customized IT infrastructure solutions,” said John Selldorff, president and CEO of Legrand North and Central America. “In addition, the acquisition expands our extensive mission-critical customer footprint and our reach in emerging tech, 5G, and the evolving content delivery markets. We look forward to offering customers and partners our new enhanced solutions.”
“Legrand is a visionary that combines best-of-breed technologies to uniquely engineer world-renowned solutions for mission-critical facilities,” added Michael Rapp, CEO of the C1 family of brands. “We are excited to work closely with their engineering, marketing, and sales teams to broaden our reach in support of today’s evolving data center requirements.”
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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