Cisco competitor Juniper Networks has acquired Kagoor Networks, maker of VoiceFlow SBC controllers, as part of a campaign to expand its wireless portfolio.Juniper Networks on Tuesday made its first foray into the burgeoning voice-over-IP space when it announced a deal to acquire Kagoor for $67.5 million.
Tiny Kagoor Networks brings to the table key session border-control functions required for carriers and telecommunications companies to cost-effectively roll out VOIP services. It also brings to Juniper Networks Inc. significant VOIP engineering talent along with an R&D presence in Israel.
"There is very strong overlap from the strategy, vision and direction perspective. Kagoor is also in terms of technology and products the best option for us in our view," said Kittu Kolluri, executive vice president and general manager for Junipers security products group in Sunnyvale, Calif.
The five-year-old companys VoiceFlow SBC controllers are used by about 100 carriers around the globe, and many of those carriers are also existing Juniper customers.
Click here to read about Junipers 2004 acquisition of NetScreen.
"We are seeing a lot of service providers are moving into next-generation IP networks. We recognize the conversion of a triple play of voice, video and data onto a single infrastructure," Kolluri said.
The SBC controllers are used most often at the edge of a carriers network to ensure that VOIP traffic is handed off securely and reliably across network boundaries.
The controllers support carrier-to-carrier peering and service enablement between the carrier and enterprise, as well as between the carrier and the consumer.
They are also used by network operators to build Infranets, which marry the reach of the Internet with the predictability of private wide-area networks.
Kagoor, based in San Mateo, Calif., shares with Juniper common strategic partnerships with Lucent Technologies, Siemens AG and NEC Corp.
Read details here about Junipers recent attempts to acquire a wireless-LAN switching startup.
The roughly 100 employees of Kagoor are expected to become a part of Junipers Security Products Group. That includes roughly 60 to 65 engineers in an R&D function.
The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter.
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