Calix acquires Optical Solutions

SAN DIEGO—Calix today announced that it is acquiring Optical Solutions Inc. in a deal that will bring together the dominant provider of gigabit passive optical networks (GPON) to independent telcos and one of the more aggressive access vendors in the same market.

Originally, the two companies were looking at integrating the Calix C7 platform with OSI’s FiberPath PON gear, according to Carl Russo, president and CEO of Calix.

“It started when we were looking at PON products,” he said “We started talking about a joint development approach.”

The acquisition provides Calix with a leadership position in the PON market among its traditional customer base. Perhaps more important to Russo is the amount of knowledge OSI brings in terms of field experience with GPONs.

“OSI is the only company that comes in, plugs it in and it works,” he said.

To that end, Russo added, the new company, which will use the Calix brand, has no intent of cutting head count.

“Outside of directly redundant positions, our intent is to retain the talent that exists,” he said. “It’s the reason we did this in the first place. Your intellectual property goes up and down the elevator every day.”

For OSI, the acquisition gives it access to a significantly larger customer base, said Mike Dagenais, president and CEO of the company.

“We were looking at how to grow into the larger multi-state independents,” he said. “We were very comfortable with our technology, but it was a matter of scale.”

Despite the similar markets, the two companies have only 17 customers that overlap among their combined base of 300. In the IPTV space, the companies have 70 customers operating systems today.

“Every one of those 70 customers represents a learning experience.” Russo said.