In what was a classic example of a secret not being well kept, Broadsoft today finally announced the acquisition of Sylantro.
Doug Mohney of Fierce VoIP has been on the story and really provided the early reporting on the story first with his report on December 18, and then with the follow-up the next day where he pointed out how many employees were bitter with the outcome as it appears that the deal according to his sources was nothing more than an asset sale, plus assumption of debt. In stock market terms, the common shareholders got very little, and the investors likely walk away without any burden but not much more.
Unfortunately, the terms of the deal between two private companies were not made public, other than Sylantro customers being made comfortable.
Here's what I think:
1) This is a great move by Broadsoft.
2) Broadsoft takes one of their software based competitors off the map, and strengthen their position.
3) Broadsoft acquires a nice customer base including AT&T which has had Sylantro in their VoIP network for a few years.
4) Broadsoft gains Earthlink as a customer, as Earthlink's TruVoice service also. Sylantro is the applications server. The same holds true at AOL which is playing around with some VoIP with AIM but no one even notices (or really cares)
5) It's a very nice match up (not not MASH-UP) as Broadsoft was always looked as a softswitch with an applications layer, while Sylantro was viewed by insiders in the know as an Applications Server imitating a softswitch.
6) Broadsoft has been the flavor of choice for many VoIP 2.0 companies who now want to add more features. Sylantro offers a platform to put those features on.
7) For application developers, it means the Broadsoft Applications platform becomes an immediate place to be. No one more than Thomas Howe knows the value there as he was the Broadsoft Mashup champion in 2008.
All in all, this is a smart grab by a smart company, that positions Broadsoft for more growth. With Nortel having the blind staggers right now, this is Broadsoft's time to grow. My guess is integration will take four to six months, and it will be June or so before the fruits of the purchase start to show more than usual and customary sales.
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