Calix, Inc. and Ericsson announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which Calix will acquire Ericsson’s fiber access assets. The two companies also announced that they have signed a global reseller agreement, under which Calix will become Ericsson’s preferred global partner for broadband access applications.
The acquisition brings together the industry’s highest capacity GPON solution, deployed by major service providers worldwide, with North America’s leading access portfolio. Ericsson’s fiber access assets expected to be included are the Ericsson EDA 1500 GPON solution and its complementary ONT portfolio. The agreement also calls for Calix to offer employment for up to 61 U.S.-based employees of Ericsson, as well as the transition of ongoing support of the acquired products from Ericsson to Calix. The acquisition transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2012. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. After close of the transaction, Calix expects operations related to the acquired assets to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share. The global reseller agreement between the two companies allows Ericsson to sell Calix Unified Access systems and software as its preferred fiber and VDSL2 access solution in 180 countries worldwide. This preferred partnership becomes effective upon the close of the acquisition and remains effective for three years.
”This partnership provides Calix, already North America’s fiber access deployment leader, with an extensive new global reseller channel, while our acquisition of Ericsson’s fiber access portfolio delivers powerful new complements to our industry-leading Unified Access portfolio,” said Carl Russo, president and CEO of Calix. “This partnership, built on a clear alignment of corporate strategy and direction, allows Ericsson to fully leverage its strengths in wireless and end-to-end services while relying on Calix to provide innovation and expertise in fixed-line broadband access. We are excited about the opportunity to assume responsibility for development and support of Ericsson’s fiber access business, and look forward to working closely with Ericsson and its broad customer base as a preferred global partner.”
“We believe that this partnership will provide our existing fiber access customers with world-class support and maintenance, and an expanded portfolio of access systems and software from a leading company totally focused on access,” said Jan Häglund, vice president and head of product area IP and broadband at Ericsson.
