DragonWave to Acquire Axerra Networks for Pseudowire

DragonWave has acquired Axerra Networks, a supplier of pseudowire technology for mobile backhaul solutions, for $9.5 Million on a debt free basis. An additional sales performance based earn out phase over the next 16 months could potentially raise the value of the transaction by up to $15.5 Million should Axerra meet certain
revenue growth targets.


Axerra offers a portfolio of AXN Pseudowire Gateways and Access Devices for the backhaul of any combination of 2G, 2.5G, and 3G voice and data traffic, including GSM with GPRS, UMTS, and HSxPA, and/or CDMA1x/CDMA2000 with 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO, all over a single packet RAN. In particular, the Axerra products address the need to carry legacy TDM traffic over a packet based network.


DragonWave said the Axerra pseudowire products will strengthen and complement its own packet microwave products, resulting in a robust converged solution for delivering TDM and packet services over a single packet network that can operate over both microwave and fiber backhaul.


Axerra was founded in 1999 and is based in Hartford, Conn., with offices in Tel Aviv, Hong Kong and Moscow.


"This acquisition represents a key step in our customer and portfolio diversification strategy," said Peter Allen, President and CEO of DragonWave. "The unique technology differentiators of Dragonwave and Axerra are totally aligned and complement each other to meet the backhaul requirements of next generation 3G/4G networks. This will also strengthen our customer diversification as it brings a significant position with a Tier 1 US MSO."http://www.dragonwaveinc.com
http://www.axerra.com