4 February 2003 -- ECI Telecom's NGTS subsidiary and NexVerse Networks have completed their merger to create Veraz Networks (previously introduced as Chorale Networks prior to a trademark search).
The new company is based at NexVerse's headquarters in San Jose, California, with a parallel operations and development centre from NGTS in Petah Tikva, Israel and field offices worldwide to provide direct, localised customer service and pursue global opportunities. With a customer base from NGTS of over 700 carriers in 140 countries, Veraz partners with both established and greenfield carriers to design and deploy tailored softswitch-based, carrier-class next-generation telephony solutions.
"Our decision to spin off ECI-NGTS and merge it with NexVerse creates a powerful combination of practical worldwide deployment experience and proven leadership in cutting-edge VoIP technology," claims Doron Inbar, president and CEO of ECI Telecom.
ECI-NGTS has recently brought to market a line of open standards-based media gateways with the same carrier-class performance, reliability and scalability as its digital circuit multiplexing equipment (DCME) product line. NexVerse has established itself as an open softswitch provider supporting carrier-class VoIP deployments.
Veraz says that NexVerse and ECI-NGTS bring their complementary technologies, resources, market presence and dedication to open standards and interoperability to the merger to deliver multiple telephony products and design services.
"Veraz inherits from NexVerse a growing base of large softswitch network deployments. Coupled with the proven success of ECI-NGTS in building a customer base of over 700 carriers, this gives us powerful leverage for securing new customers," claims Amit Chawla, executive VP global marketing.
Veraz's deployments and advanced trials with carriers address diverse applications including Internet Call Diversion, Domestic and International Long Distance services, IP Centrex, enterprise integrated voice-data services, TDM switch replacement and DCME-based static IP trunking. By combining standards-based platforms with robust management systems, Veraz says that it offers flexibility - an integrated packet telephony solution as well as the freedom to choose best-of-breed, individual products to match Class 4, Class 5 and new voice-data service needs.
* Veraz has also completed raising the planned USD30m in total investment, with Argonaut Private Equity joining ECI Telecom and NexVerse's original investors - Norwest Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, Levensohn Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers - in investing in the merged company. The new funding complements the on-going revenue stream generated by current digital compression and next-generation products, and will be used for global market expansion and further development of next-generation products and solutions.
"Carriers globally have indicated an interest in moving to softswitch-based architectures, capping their investment in legacy equipment," said Jason Martin, managing director, Argonaut Private Equity.