PARIS, September 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alcatel (Paris : CGEP.PA and NYSE : ALA) today announced it has acquired privately held US-based eDial, Inc., a leading provider of conferencing and collaboration solutions for enterprises and service providers. The acquisition of eDial enables Alcatel to continue expansion of its enterprise software offerings. eDial is based in Waltham, Mass. and employs approximately 30 people. The company currently serves more than 100 customers, including enterprises and service providers, through direct and indirect channels. The acquisition was made for approximately $27 million (approx. EUR22 million) in Alcatel stock (ADS) and cash. The deal closed today.
eDial's product portfolio includes an open, SIP* software-based platform and applications for conferencing for voice, data and video. eDial also provides a solution for real time collaboration that integrates instant messaging, application sharing and presence capabilities.
"The ability for enterprises to conduct real-time conferencing and collaboration that combines voice, video and data with instant messaging and presence increases employee efficiency and contributes to improved business processes," said Jean-Christophe Giroux, president of Alcatel's Enterprise Solutions activities. "eDial ideally complements our open software and applications strategy, especially our Unified Communications suite."
As part of the acquisition, eDial's current development, sales and support operations will remain in Waltham. The company's experienced team of experts will serve as Alcatel's 'center of excellence' for developing conferencing and collaboration solutions.
"Alcatel's acquisition of eDial sets the stage for the next wave of development for our business, employees and customers," said Jill Smith, chief executive officer, eDial. "Alcatel is a recognized leader in communications worldwide, and we look forward to joining their team and contributing to their growth and innovation in conferencing and collaboration."
eDial's commitment to open industry standards eases integration of converged collaboration solutions with enterprise applications and infrastructure. Further, eDial's ability to operate on-site and in hosted environments supports Alcatel's strategy to deliver both customer premise equipment (CPE) and managed services solutions in partnership with service providers - fixed and wireless.
From a product perspective, eDial's software will provide key capabilities for Alcatel's OmniTouch Unified Communication software-based conferencing application, called My Teamwork. eDial's technology also will provide a common platform for conferencing solutions from across Alcatel and will serve as a technology foundation for solutions resulting from Alcatel's recently launched Unified Interaction Management (UIM) software initiative, which will focus on real-time communications and collaboration.
session initiation protocol
About Alcatel OmniTouch Unfied Communications
Alcatel OmniTouch Unified Communication is a powerful suite of software applications designed to optimize business communications. Alcatel Unified Communication includes a conferencing application (My Teamwork), unified messaging (My Messaging), a software-based phone (My Phone), and 'follow me' routing for managing communications while in the office or on the road (My Assistant).
About Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or to their employees. Alcatel leverages its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services to bring value to its customers in the framework of a broadband world. With sales of EURO 12.5 billion in 2003, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com
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