French networking firm Alcatel Wednesday announced it will acquire Internet Devices Inc., a company that specializes in virtual private networks, for approximately $180 million in cash.
Internet Devices’ product family includes secure policy management solutions that integrate VPNs, enterprise-level firewall protection, bandwidth management and other network services. With the acquisition, Alcatel hopes to create a strong platform of IP-based products and services.
Completion of transaction is subject to approval by Internet Devices’
shareholders and other customary closing conditions. The transaction is
expected to close in approximately two to three weeks.
“Internet Devices represents a significant addition to Alcatel’s Internet product
portfolio and strategy,” said Krish Prabhu, Alcatel USA CEO.
“It plugs one of
the remaining gaps in Alcatel’s end-to-end data offering and, more importantly,
answers the needs of both carriers and enterprises to harness the efficiency
and universal availability of the Internet to provide secure, reliable
access to intranet and extranet content.”
Alcatel said it plans to market Internet Devices’ existing standalone products and will
also integrate the technology into its portfolio of Internet products and
solutions.
