Nokia Siemens Networks takes home “Leading Lights” award in the Big Apple

The company’s first two acquisitions earn it a coveted “Leading Lights 2008” award at this year’s award ceremony in New York.

Journalists and analysts from on-line publication Light Reading have named Nokia Siemens Networks as the Best Deal Maker of 2008 for its acquisitions of two telecoms pioneers, Apertio and Atrica, which were completed earlier in the year. The judges said that the “key additions for reasonable prices in important and growing markets” were the determining factor in Nokia Siemens Networks winning the award.

“Nokia Siemens Networks stood out in this category for the combination of its strategic thinking and ability to buy in new expertise and business without breaking the bank. Its two purchases, of integrated mobile subscriber data management specialist Apertio Ltd. and carrier Ethernet switch player Atrica gave it key technology in two critical areas of growth for a combined price of less than $300 million,” read the award citation in Light Reading.

“The decision to acquire another company, no matter how strategically important it may be, is never taken lightly – especially for a company that is itself undergoing a major integration as we are,” says Mika Vehviläinen, Chief Operating Officer, Nokia Siemens Networks. “That’s why we are especially proud of the success of these acquisitions and the recognition that the Leading Lights award brings. We saw Atrica and Apertio as visionary companies that could contribute in a major way to our own vision of connecting 5 billion people by 2015, and we seized the opportunity to bring them into our family.”

The Atrica acquisition strengthened the Nokia Siemens Networks portfolio in terms of additional Carrier Ethernet switches for demarcation, edge, aggregation and metro core plus awarded management software ASPEN. These enhancements enable Nokia Siemens Networks to offer unmatched end-to-end management, carrier-grade reliability, security and scalability for data-optimized networks. The Atrica acquisition also added excellent capabilities in terms of research and development. Amongst other providers, the Pan-European carrier COLT has recently decided to base its Ethernet services on the A-series and management software solution from Nokia Siemens Networks. Multimedios Redes, the third largest cable player in Mexico, has also selected the Nokia Siemens Networks end-to-end Carrier Ethernet solution (A-series), which combines management tools and Metro+Long Haul DWDM solution.

With the acquisition of Apertio, Nokia Siemens Networks has made a key investment in its future growth by fortifying its strong position in GSM registers with the addition of Apertio’s market leading real-time subscriber data management platform and applications. The combined forces of Nokia Siemens Networks and Apertio is helping operators simplify their networks and manage their key assets – subscriber data – as well as boost Nokia Siemens Networks’ technology and services capabilities in the high-growth, high-margin subscriber management market. With the addition of a new customer almost every week, Nokia Siemens Networks is fast confirming its standing as the Number One provider of complete subscriber data management solutions, including common repository, centralized provisioning, application front ends and network and service management.