Metaswitch Networks is a private UK-based company which was acquired by Microsoft in July 2020. Metaswitch Networks designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

s software to communication service providers, equipment manufacturers and large enterprises.

Corporate history

Metaswitch (formerly Data Connection Ltd) was founded in 1981 by seven former IBM employees led by Ian Ferguson, who remained on the board of directors until the company's acquisition by Microsoft. The company's earliest business areas included IBM Systems Network Architecture (SNA) and retail point of sale systems. In the 1990s, the company began developing network protocol software. In 2000, the company launched the Metaswitch brand, which provided

softswitch A softswitch (''software switch'') is a call-switching node in a telecommunications network, based not on the specialized switching hardware of the traditional telephone exchange, but implemented in software running on a general-purpose computing ...

es and network management systems designed to enable telephone service providers to migrate to

Voice over IP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

(VoIP) networks while still supporting legacy telephone technologies. By 2008, the Metaswitch division was responsible for 78% of the company's revenue. In April 2009, the company announced intentions to consolidate all of its products and business operations under the Metaswitch brand, with two business units: the Carrier Systems Division and Network Protocol Division. In October 2009, the company rebranded itself as Metaswitch Networks, to reflect the growing focus on the products and services that it sells to telephone service providers. In August 2011, the company formally changed its name from Data Connection Ltd to Metaswitch Networks Ltd. In July 2014, the company moved some of its software to open-source with the launch of Project Calico. In May 2020,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

announced a definitive agreement to acquire Metaswitch Networks. On 15 July 2020, the acquisition was completed.

Acquisitions

In March 2010, the firm acquired AppTrigger Inc, a provider of service broker software in

Richardson, Texas Richardson is a city in Dallas and Collin counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 119,469. Richardson is an inner suburb of the city of Dallas. It is home to the University ...

. In April 2011, it acquired Colibria AS, a provider of

Rich Communication Suite Rich Communication Services (RCS) is a communication protocol between mobile telephone carriers and between phone and carrier, aiming at replacing Short Message Service, SMS messages with a text-message system that is richer, provides phonebook p ...

(RCS) software in Oslo, Norway. In February 2017, Metaswitch acquired OpenCloud Ltd, a provider of an open mobile services platform.

Ownership and investors

In 1987, Metaswitch established the Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) to hold shares of the company on behalf of the employees, which enabled company-wide profit sharing. In January 2008

Francisco Partners Francisco Partners is an American private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses. Founded in August 1999 and based in San Francisco with offices in London and New York City, Francis ...

, a

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

firm, and Sequoia Capital, a

venture capitalist Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

firm, invested an undisclosed sum in Metaswitch.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metaswitch Networking companies Networking software companies Telecommunications equipment vendors Companies based in the London Borough of Enfield British companies established in 1981 Telecommunications companies established in 1981 Software companies established in 1981 2020 mergers and acquisitions Microsoft acquisitions Microsoft subsidiaries British subsidiaries of foreign companies Software companies based in London