ADVA strengthens Carrier Ethernet, NFV hand with Overture Networks acquisition

ADVA Optical Networking has killed two birds with one stone with its acquisition of privately held Overture (nee Overture Networks). The purchase rounds out the company's Carrier Ethernet access device portfolio and extends its network functions virtualization (NFV) capabilities. ADVA CEO Brian Protiva predicts that the deal will have its first big impact where the two areas intersect.

ADVA announced yesterday that it will pay $35 million for Overture, with an additional $5 million tacked on later should certain unannounced conditions be met. The company has arranged a loan to raise the necessary funds.

Protiva says that he pursued Overture for several years, initially for its Ethernet access device and technology portfolio. The acquisition adds an Ethernet-over-copper offering, a programmable white-box network interface device (NID), and a virtualized NID that complements ADVA's FSP 150 fiber-based access family. (The line developed in part through Overture's merger with Hatteras Networks.) The resulting breadth of product, as well as the addition of Overture's customer base, now makes ADVA either Number 1 or a close Number 2 to Ciena in the Ethernet access market, Protiva asserts. Overture has had significant success in North America, while ADVA's customer strength has traditionally been found in Europe. Protiva expects to find success in cross-selling between the two customer bases.

Overture also has been very active in NFV and had developed the Overture Orchestrator, Ensemble Network Controller, and other network virtualization products that now will enable ADVA to support end-to-end orchestration and address both Layer 2 and Layer 3 opportunities, Protiva says. The latter could represent a total addressable market of between $4 billion and $7 billion, he estimates.

ADVA will push its open access philosophy, modular approach, and strategy of playing within ecosystems and domains as a differentiator, Protiva says. For example, he predicts virtualization in the Carrier Ethernet access space will be where the addition of Overture will be first exploited. He adds that the company will not be afraid to use price as a weapon.

Protiva adds that in addition to the company's products, Overture's people made the company an attractive acquisition target. That includes CEO Mike Aquino, whom Protiva expects to play a lead role in the creation and development of a new ADVA business unit focused on virtualization and other software-based offerings that will include the Overture NFV assets.

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