Siris Capital sold Polycom to Plantronics for $2 Billion. Siris paid $1.7 Billion for Polycom in 2016. They just acquired Obihai for an undisclosed amount, but it had to be more than $300M. Basically, someone made an offer and Siris said “Take it!”
Windstream bought a NY CLEC, MASS Comm for $37.5 million in cash.
“Fuze and AppNeta are partnering on a real-time network monitoring service. The result: Fuze unified communications customers should gain visibility into network performance, and the ability to resolve performance issues before they affect the quality of communications.” [channele2e] Monitoring for VoIP/UC is becoming a necessary component.
Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal is the tip of the iceberg. As Doc Searle writes Everyone is selling your information! Meanwhile NYU Professor Galloway and others (especially the EU) are calling for regulating GAFA – or even breaking up Google and Facebook. GDPR in Europe starts end of May. That will result in some changes.
In patent fights: Google losing to Oracle vis a vis Android and Metaswitch losing to GENBAND to the tune of $8.8M.
AppRiver has acquired Roaring Penguin Software.
Foxconn has acquired Belkin, Linksys for $866M.
Don’t fret all you channel heads: IBM Channel Executives Are Frustrated With The Pace Of Partners’ Transformation, too, according to Forrester. Meanwhile Vonage, Verizon, AT&T, TPx and others are changing their channel programs in order to be even more available to anyone who wants in. AT the same time, many programs are figuring out how to reach more ISVs and MSPs in order to sell and service to mid-market and above. Still the SMB world is being ignored.