Symmetricom, Inc. has acquired QoSmetrics S.A., a privately held provider of QoE solutions for IPTV and other triple play services, for a price of approximately $16 million in cash.
"This acquisition builds upon our expertise of enabling Quality of Service through precise timing distribution in Next Generation Networks (NGN)," said Tom Steipp, CEO of Symmetricom. "QoSmetrics extends our market leadership into the emerging QoE market and enables us to continue to address our telecom customers' most critical needs, including issues surrounding the delivery of multimedia services over converged IP infrastructures. QoSmetrics' system-level solutions and intellectual property assets, which include a broad base of tools to measure key IP Performance Metrics (IPPM), as well as to monitor VoIP and video-based data streams, provide a solid foundation for Symmetricom to play a leading role in monitoring and ensuring end users' QoE."
As IPTV moves toward widespread deployment, industry experts concur that successful implementations and long term market adoption will require new service assurance solutions and an increasing emphasis on QoE in order to protect the large scale investments being made by network operators around the world.
"QoSmetrics' award-winning solutions are ideal for a variety of NGN implementations, including triple play services and other converged network applications," said Yves Cognet, chairman, CTO and co-founder of QoSmetrics. "The company's comprehensive suite of products provides real time, multi-protocol, end-to-end monitoring and diagnostic capabilities that enable service providers to troubleshoot and often prevent network issues. We have already had early success with operators such as Telecom Italia, which has chosen to deploy our solution as part of their rollout of IPTV. With QoSmetrics joining Symmetricom, we will have access to a worldwide network of service provider relationships and also be able to more fully leverage Symmetricom's global leadership in timing distribution technologies."
Mr. Steipp added, "Symmetricom has consistently demonstrated an ability to leverage its core competencies in delivering quality products to communications service providers around the globe. QoSmetrics' technology base will enable Symmetricom to enhance its position in emerging areas of the global telecommunications industry by providing those service providers with the tools and monitoring capabilities necessary to maximize QoE for end users of triple play services."
Symmetricom management will hold a conference call on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2007 at 6:00 a.m. Pacific time to discuss the acquisition. Those wishing to join should dial 210-234-0026 and reference the passcode "Symmetricom." A replay of the call will be available until Jan. 11 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time. To access the replay, please dial 402-220-5349. A live webcast of the conference call will also be available via the company's web site at
www.symmetricom.com.