Nortel Networks yesterday announced the acquisition of Periphonics Corp, a provider of interactive voice systems, in a deal valued at around $US436 million.
Nortel, based in Brampton, Ontario, is buying Periphonics as part of its strategy to deliver networks that unify voice, data and the internet, according to company officials.
Periphonics, in Bohemia, New York, uses voice recognition, natural-language processing and text-to-speech in its voice-response systems used in call centres and elsewhere. The company also delivers Web-enabled self-service systems.
Periphonics has customers in 50 countries, mainly within the financial sector and telecommunications. The company, which employs more than 900 people, had $142 million in revenue in the fiscal year, ended in May.
Nortel has 76,000 employees worldwide, with 1998 revenue of $17.6 billion.
The boards of directors of both companies have approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. Under the terms of the agreement, each share of Periphonics will be converted into a fraction of a Nortel Networks share.