Siemens Snaps up Chantry

Siemens will acquire wireless LAN technology player
Chantry Networks to fill out its HiPath lineup, executives said
Thursday.

The two sides are familiar with each other, having a number of
testing projects already in the works.

Siemens said the long-term
strategy is to add additional VoIP
capabilities and other voice communications technologies to its HiPath
portfolio.

Tom Racca, vice president of
marketing at Chantry, told internetnews.com the product roadmaps will start to
merge a bit.

“They have a lot of
enterprise experience, but WLAN was a hole for them, and we are here to
fill in the gap,” he said.

According to analysts, Siemens’ VoIP connections holds 38.6 percent of the market,
but it would like more. Customers include BMW,
DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Bank, Ford, IBM, Kodak, SAP, BP and Volvo.

Racca said Chantry’s plan to outfit the company’s BeaconWorks
products with technology to allow access by different third-party
manufacturers is expected to go unfettered.

The deal also brings a future roadmap for WiMAX and
GSM to the Siemens table. The HiPath family currently uses
second-generation IP (2gIP) applications. Chantry has been planning to
outfit its access points with the ubiquitous wireless connectivity
technologies. Racca said the vision is similar to the cellular industry
where Wireless LAN companies build subscriber systems to establish
policies.

“For example, if you were running a college campus, you would have
separate groups for students, faculty, administrators and plant
management and have different security policies for each class of
users,” Racca.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The purchase is
expected to conclude in the first part of 2005.

In a separate announcement, AT&T said it will continue
providing networking services for Siemens under a four-year, $174
million contract renewal.