VeriSign Inc., the Mountain View, Calif. company that controls the .com and .net registries, said in October that it would sell Network Solutions to Pivotal Private Equity for approximately US$100 million. Although it means to retain a 15 per cent equity stake in the unit, VeriSign said this customer-facing registrar no longer fit its strategic vision, which focuses more on telecom and Internet infrastructure, as well as security services. The company said Network Solutions, acquired three years ago, had two parts: the registrar business and the registry business. VeriSign said it is selling the former portion and maintaining the registry, which includes the .com and .net infrastructure.
Avaya dumps cabling unit
After hanging a for sale sign on its structured cabling business more than a year ago, Avaya Inc. sold its Connectivity Solutions (ACS) arm last month to Hickory, N.C.-based CommScope Inc. in an US$263-million deal. CommScope’s bread and butter is in broadband coaxial cable for Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) applications. The Avaya ACS division will complement CommScope’s offerings and also bring enhanced global opportunities to the company in the enterprise LAN business, CommScope said.
Symantec flips the ON switch
Symantec Corp. last month announced the purchase of ON Technology Corp., a maker of remote PC management technology, for US $100 million in cash. ON, of Waltham, Mass., makes products designed to enable network administrators to inventory and manage the desktop computers, servers and mobile devices on local and wide area networks. Under the terms of the deal, Symantec will pay US$4 for each share of ON stock, Symantec said. Symantec will use ON’s technology to enhance its line of enterprise security administration products, with the goal of giving Symantec customers the ability to spot and patch security holes in their computer network, Symantec said in a statement.
Nortel profits in Q3
Nortel Networks Corp. made a profit of about US$179 million, or US$0.04 per share, in the third quarter of 2003, according to preliminary results the company released Oct. 23. The profit surpassed the forecasts analysts had given, as reported by Thomson First Call. The analysts had estimated that Nortel would break even in earnings per share, on revenue of US$2.33 billion. Revenue for the quarter, ended Sept. 30, came in close to that estimate, at US$2.27 billion, Nortel said. Also on Oct. 23, the Brampton, Ont.-based telecommunications and network equipment maker said it will restate its financial results for 2000, 2001, 2002 and the first two quarters of 2003 as part of an ongoing review of its assets and liabilities.
