Intel Sells Media, Signaling Biz to Eicon
Staff Reporter -- EDN, August 9, 2006
Chip giant Intel Corp. has inked an agreement to sell the assets of its media and signaling business to media processing hardware and software provider Eicon Networks Corp.
The transaction is expected to close in approximately four to six weeks and is subject to regulatory review and normal closing conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
In June, Intel inked a $600 million deal to unload its handheld chip business to Marvell. Both sales are apparently part of the massive restructuring announced by Intel earlier this year.
Eicon expects the acquisition to propel it to status as a leading player in the media processing and signaling market segment, the companies said in a statement.
Intel's media and signaling business includes all of the product lines from Intel's Dialogic acquisition, as well as Host Media Processing (HMP) software and HMP-enabled blades. Intel's complete line of SS7, PBX integration and gateway solutions are also included in the sale.
Eicon also announced that concurrently with the acquisition, leading global investment groups Investcorp Technology Ventures and Tennenbaum Capital Partners will invest in Eicon, with Investcorp serving as the lead equity investor in the transaction and Tennenbaum providing a credit facility and serving as an equity co-investor.
"This is a very exciting day for Eicon," said Nick Jensen, Eicon’s president and CEO, in a statement. "Eicon's and Intel's media and signaling products complement each other well. We expect this acquisition to extend our global reach with solutions for both traditional circuit switch communication technology and leading-edge IP platforms for both enterprises and service providers."
