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Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft
CNBC
Microsoft said Thursday that it has agreed to acquire Metaswitch Networks, a company with software that telecommunications companies can use to provide voice and data services to their customers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The move shows Microsoft’s efforts to target a single industry through inorganic deals rather than developing company expertise and technology. These efforts could help Microsoft gain wider adoption of its Azure public cloud, which challenges market-leading Amazon Web Services.
“The convergence of cloud and communication networks presents a unique opportunity for Microsoft to serve operators globally through continued investment in Azure, adding additional depth to our hyperscale cloud infrastructure with the specialized software required to run virtualized communication functions, applications and networks, “Yousef Khalidi, a Microsoft corporate vice president, wrote in a blog post.
Metaswitch has a 5G product to handle network traffic that can run on public cloud infrastructure. Customers could rely on the company’s software on the cloud infrastructure instead of adding capacity in their own data centers to support the use of additional networks at higher speeds.
Microsoft announced the deal three weeks after the closing of its acquisition of Affirmed Networks, a new company targeting mobile phone operators. Last year, Microsoft announced a multi-year cloud agreement with AT&T.
Customers featured on the Metaswitch website include British Telecom, Sprint (now owned by T-Mobile), Swisscom, Telstra, and Vodafone.
Metaswitch has nearly 700 employees, according to LinkedIn. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in London and Los Altos, California. Investors include Sequoia Capital.
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