LG-Nortel, a Korean global telecommunications solution provider, and Accton Technology, a Taiwanese global telecommunications equipment company, announced they signed an agreement to form a joint venture that will offer voice and data solutions for North American small to medium-size businesses and large enterprises.
Jae Ryung Lee, CEO of LG-Norte,l and A.J. Huang, chairman of Accton Group, signed the agreement in Hsinchu, Taiwan. LG-Nortel will own a 60 percent share in the joint venture, and Accton will own 40 percent, according to a joint release issued by the companies. The new venture will be tentatively named Edgecore Networks, which was a subsidiary of Accton and a specialized North American sales company for network solutions. The joint venture will be established by mid-February from headquarters in Irvine, Calif., the release noted.
Lee characterized the venture as “another bold step” for the company in North America. “Like LG-Nortel, Accton is an innovative leader in its market,” he said. “This partnership will provide significant new opportunities to reinforce our brand, increasing our global competitiveness and helping our customers embrace the future opportunities and challenges of the converged communications market.”
The joint venture was created to combine the SMB voice and data product expertise of LG-Nortel with Edgecore Networks’ marketing and sales capability, SMB channels and logistics skills. The companies touted the combination of these capabilities as positioning the joint venture to take full charge of the SMB and enterprise equipment business of LG-Nortel and Accton across the USA and Canada. Both companies will cooperate in all aspects of their businesses including research and development, manufacturing, marketing, new business development and brand use.
“The establishment of this joint venture will significantly enhance LG-Nortel’s presence in North America,” said Leith Tessy, COO of LG-Nortel. “Businesses have more complex communications challenges than ever, and the combination of our companies’ respective strengths will provide an unparalleled opportunity to help them meet those challenges.”
Huang said the demands of North American customers are directly connected to the overall trend towards global communication. “The brand value and voice platform technology that LG-Nortel provides, paired with Accton’s distribution and manufacturing capacity, and our local network reach, will make this joint venture a powerful combination that will deliver significant benefits for companies across North America,” he said.