NOVEMBER 29, 2007 -- Xtera Communications (search for Xtera Communications) today announced that it has acquired Azea Networks (search for Azea Networks), a privately held optical networking company based in the UK.
With the acquisition, Xtera extends its subsea product portfolio from the unrepeatered market to include repeatered subsea applications. Xtera claims its unrepeatered product line provides unprecedented reach for new deployments and enables existing unrepeatered links to be upgraded to significantly higher capacities. Azea's product line provides similar benefit to repeatered upgrades and initial deployments, Xtera representatives believe. By upgrading their existing repeatered assets with this equipment, service providers are able to quickly achieve the capacity of a new system at a fraction of the cost of a new deployment, they say. The consolidated company will provide global service providers with an end-to-end optical transport solution covering land and sea.
"The acquisition makes sense for reasons that go beyond our complementary subsea product portfolios," notes Mike Hynes, who will assume the role of executive vice president of sales and chief marketing officer for Xtera's Optical Networking Division. "We share the same passion for customer response and support."
"Operators of existing subsea networks are experiencing a surge in bandwidth demand," explains Howard Kidorf, managing partner of Pioneer Consulting. "Their ability to quickly respond by upgrading existing submarine cables provides them a time-to-market and cost advantage over operators that require new deployments. The products of the combined company allow Xtera to address a wider range of subsea solutions, which should maintain the momentum the company has generated over the past year," he adds.
This acquisition is part of Xtera's planned growth as announced earlier this year. "This provides cost-effective growth to one of our core business areas and strengthens our position in the optical networking market," contends Jon Hopper, CEO of Xtera Communications.
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