Comdial acquires Soundpipe assets

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 10 June 2003, 19:30 IST
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SARASOTA, Fla: Comdial Corporation (OTC: CMDZ), a leading provider of IP Telephony solutions, announced today that it is acquiring most of the assets of Silicon Valley- based Soundpipe Inc., in exchange for 250,000 shares of Comdial common stock and cash. Soundpipe is engaged in the design and licensing of next generation voice communications solutions. Comdial intends to integrate Soundpipe technology into its third generation IP Telephony products and distribute these products through its national channel partner network. The Soundpipe team will continue to work out of the former Soundpipe offices in Santa Clara, California. “We have the opportunity to fundamentally change the small business communications market place through combining Soundpipe's engineering resources and technology and Comdial's products, market presence and dealer network," Nick Branica, Comdial president and CEO. “The Soundpipe team has many years of experience designing data communications products at leading firms like Cisco, Crescendo Communications and 3COM. Comdial is excited about combining its telephony expertise with Soundpipe's data background and delivering a world class product." Soundpipe co-founder and president Srivatsan Kasturi remarked, "Our vision was to develop next generation voice communication technology providing a new paradigm in entry level price and functionality in the enterprise telecommunications environment -- we believe we accomplished that goal." The IP Telephony segment of the $9 billion enterprise communications market is growing over 30 percent annually, according to industry analyst InfoTech. InfoTech predicts IP Telephony shipments will surpass traditional shipments by 2006 making it a $3.1 billion market. This market represents a large and growing market for Comdial to penetrate with its new technology, established distribution channel, and growing installed base. "Teaming up with Comdial and its channels positions us to see our technology become successful in this competitive market. This joining of forces is a win-win situation for both companies," said Vinod Nagarajan, Soundpipe co-founder and vice president of engineering. "Soundpipe brings industry standard technologies like Linux, VoIP, SIP and cutting-edge Wi-Fi technology to the traditional telephony market", says Shashi Kumar, Soundpipe co-founder and vice president of hardware engineering. Comdial’s new product—Hercules—is scheduled to be commercially available in the first half of 2004.