Turin, Force10 merger follows Ethernet migration

The Turin/Force10 deal, which combines a mostly carrier-focused vendor with a mostly enterprise-focused vendor of roughly equal size (each has about 400 employees), follows the evolution of carrier networks toward more enterprise technologies such as IP and Ethernet. And it is consistent with another recent merger in the carrier Ethernet space, of Overture Networks and Ceterus Networks last month.

Turin and Force10 already share some carrier customers, including Cox Communications and Tata Communications. But they claim “zero overlap” in their product portfolios. Like Force10, Turin’s Traverse platform does include some Ethernet aggregation, but the vendor says it’s minimal – so much so that the Traverse is often paired with other vendors’ Ethernet aggregation gear. And it is deployed mostly in legacy migration applications such as GFP and VCAT, whereas Force10’s aggregation is more focused on pure Ethernet.

Turin is no stranger to mergers and acquisitions. In 2006, it acquired the assets of White Rock Networks for $3.4 million in cash, prizing in particular its small multiservice provisioning platform. In late 2007, Turin acquired Carrier Access, a vendor of wireless backhaul gear, for nearly $93 million in cash. At the time, Turin said it wanted to expand Carrier Access’s equipment from GSM and UMTS networks to CDMA, using capabilities in Turin’s carrier Ethernet aggregation and transport product portfolio. That acquisition also gave Turin AT&T as a customer.

In the enterprise space, Turin imagines combining the Adit voice-over-IP edge routers it inherited through its Carrier Access acquisition with Force10’s aggregation switches, which are slightly more upscale.