Nortel to Acquire Sonoma Systems for $540 Million

BOSTON, Aug. 16 -- Nortel Networks Corp., developer of telephony, data, wireless and wirelinesolutions for the Internet, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sonoma Systems, headquartered in Marina del Rey, Calif. with a technology center located in Marlborough, Mass. Sonoma Systems is a developer and supplier of Asynchronous Transfer Mode-based Broadband Integrated Access Devices. The $540 million acquisition will be paid in Nortel common shares, a portion of which is depends upon Sonoma Systems achieving certain business objectives.
The acquisition will give Nortel Networks the ability to tie the bandwidth and power of the high-performance optical Internet to the access solutions of the local Internet. Sonoma's products are designed to enable Network Service Providers to deliver a customized bundle of services to their subscribers, including Internet, data, voice and video, through a single high-speed access link. The acquisition will enable Nortel's customers to offer comprehensive managed services via a network architecture that brings broadband content and high-bandwidth capabilities to the edge of the network.