Colubris Makes First Acquisition

Wireless equipment maker Colubris Networks made its first acquisition today,
snapping up Wi-Fi startup Kiwi Networks for an undisclosed sum.

Radio frequency and packet scheduling products from privately-held Kiwi help
corporations and carriers limit interference and reduce congestion on Wi-Fi
systems.

Bob Olson, a spokesman for Waltham, Mass.-based Colubris, said other firms do what Kiwi does, but not at the same level of sophistication.

“As WLANs continue to be deployed, interference will become an
increasingly difficult problem as more and more signals overlap,” Olson
told internetnews.com. “Kiwi has patents and personnel that have solved
this problem.”

In addition, WLAN capacity will be impacted with more services running
across networks, a problem Kiwi’s technology also addresses. Colubris’
multiservice WLAN systems incorporating Kiwi technology are expected to ship
by year’s end.

Kiwi’s Campbell, Calif., headquarters will become Colubris’ West Coast sales
and development office. Shimon Scherzer, Kiwi co-founder, president and CEO,
will lead the engineering team in California, Colubris said.

Colubris’ acquisition comes fewer than three weeks after the company banked
$15 million in third-round venture capital financing led by Doll Capital
Management. To date, Colubris has now raised $36 million,, and it may still be
shopping. Colubris has 88 employees.

“We are always looking for both acquisitions and partnerships,” said Olson,
who noted that Colubris has partner pacts with network equipment giants
Alcatel and Juniper .

Colubris now has more than 1,000 customers, including those in the carrier,
hospitality, retail, education and health care sectors.

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

News Around the Web