Radware to Buy Nortel’s Alteon App Delivery Division

Integrated application delivery provider Radware said the 20th Feb. it has signed an agreement with struggling Nortel to purchase the Canadian company’s Layer 4-7 application delivery business. Financial details were not disclosed.

Nortel added the application switch product line to its catalog in October 2000 through its corporate acquisition of Alteon WebSystems.

North America’s largest telecommunications infrastructure and unified communications provider, Nortel is currently in the throes of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

The company has $2.4 (£1.67) billion in cash reserves but is saddled with more than $4 (£2.79) billion in debt and has been fighting serious financial and market battles for more than a decade—mainly against heavy-duty competitors such as Cisco Systems and Avaya.

Nortel, like Radware, has many major enterprise customers in the financial services, government, science, media and health care sectors.

As part of the intended acquisition, Radware would incorporate Nortel’s application delivery products—which are similar to its own offerings—and repackage them under a merged brand, Radware Alteon, the company said.

Radware CEO Roy Zisapel told eWEEK that the deal has been in the works for several months and that Nortel’s filing for bankruptcy protection “caught us in the middle; actually, we were closer to the end of the negotiations,” he said.

Zisapel continued, “This will increase our customer base through the channels that it brings. It means more consolidation in our market, and we have an OEM agreement included so that we will be able to continue to serve their customers without disruption.”

In fact, Radware will offer each of Nortel’s Alteon customers a full five-year guarantee of continued service and support on existing Alteon products and services, he said.

“That way customers will not have to worry about any service disruptions as a result of the acquisition. We are committed to making this transaction seamless for existing customers,” Zisapel said.