Metaswitch
Encyclopedia
Metaswitch Networks is the trading name of Data Connection Ltd and Data Connection Corp, a private UK-based company that designs, develops, manufactures, and markets telecommunication
s hardware and software solutions to communication service providers, equipment manufacturers and large enterprises.
employees led by Ian Ferguson, who remains on the board of directors. The company's earliest business areas included IBM Systems Network Architecture (SNA) and retail point of sale systems. In 1987, the founders established the Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) to hold the shares of the company on behalf of the employees, which enabled company-wide profit sharing
.
The company launched its carrier systems business under the Metaswitch brand in 2000, and by 2008 that division was responsible for 78% of the company’s revenue. In January 2008 Francisco Partners
, a private equity
firm, and Sequoia Capital
, a venture capitalist firm, invested an undisclosed sum in Data Connection. 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. This rebrand was completed by 7 October 2009.
In March 2010, Metaswitch Networks announced that it was acquiring AppTrigger Inc, a telecommunications company that provides Service Broker solutions. It announced acquisition of Colibria AS, a Norwegian provider of Rich Communications Suite (RCS) software, in April 2011.
, MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS)
, Generalized MPLS (GMPLS), IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)
, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
, and Systems Network Architecture (SNA) equipment.
and IP Multimedia Subsystem
products, including a suite of telephony applications (MetaSphere), web-based user interfaces for telephony systems (CommPortal) and a management interface (MetaView).
-lite' sharing capabilities direct to consumers.
.
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s hardware and software solutions to communication service providers, equipment manufacturers and large enterprises.
Corporate history
The company was founded as Data Connection Ltd (DCL) in 1981 by seven former IBMIBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
employees led by Ian Ferguson, who remains on the board of directors. The company's earliest business areas included IBM Systems Network Architecture (SNA) and retail point of sale systems. In 1987, the founders established the Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) to hold the shares of the company on behalf of the employees, which enabled company-wide profit sharing
Profit sharing
Profit sharing, when used as a special term, refers to various incentive plans introduced by businesses that provide direct or indirect payments to employees that depend on company's profitability in addition to employees' regular salary and bonuses...
.
The company launched its carrier systems business under the Metaswitch brand in 2000, and by 2008 that division was responsible for 78% of the company’s revenue. In January 2008 Francisco Partners
Francisco Partners
Francisco Partners is a private equity firm focusing on structured investments in the information technology sector.Francisco Partners Management LLC was founded in August 1999 and is headquartered in San Francisco and maintains an additional office in London, United Kingdom...
, a private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
firm, and Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"...
, a venture capitalist firm, invested an undisclosed sum in Data Connection. 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. This rebrand was completed by 7 October 2009.
In March 2010, Metaswitch Networks announced that it was acquiring AppTrigger Inc, a telecommunications company that provides Service Broker solutions. It announced acquisition of Colibria AS, a Norwegian provider of Rich Communications Suite (RCS) software, in April 2011.
Network Technologies Division
The Network Technologies Division (renamed from Network Protocols Division in May 2010) develops and licenses portable protocol stacks for system manufacturers of VoIP, IP RoutingRouting
Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic. Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network , electronic data networks , and transportation networks...
, MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS)
Multiprotocol Label Switching
Multiprotocol Label Switching is a mechanism in high-performance telecommunications networks that directs data from one network node to the next based on short path labels rather than long network addresses, avoiding complex lookups in a routing table. The labels identify virtual links between...
, Generalized MPLS (GMPLS), IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)
IP Multimedia Subsystem
The IP Multimedia Subsystem or IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem is an architectural framework for delivering Internet Protocol multimedia services. It was originally designed by the wireless standards body 3rd Generation Partnership Project , as a part of the vision for evolving mobile...
, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
, and Systems Network Architecture (SNA) equipment.
Carrier Systems Division
The Carrier Systems Division develops and sells a range of softswitchSoftswitch
A softswitch is a central device in a telecommunications network which connects telephone calls from one phone line to another, typically via the internet, entirely by means of software running on a general-purpose computer system...
and IP Multimedia Subsystem
IP Multimedia Subsystem
The IP Multimedia Subsystem or IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem is an architectural framework for delivering Internet Protocol multimedia services. It was originally designed by the wireless standards body 3rd Generation Partnership Project , as a part of the vision for evolving mobile...
products, including a suite of telephony applications (MetaSphere), web-based user interfaces for telephony systems (CommPortal) and a management interface (MetaView).
Thrutu
The Thrutu division is based in Palo Alto and launched a mobile app in March 2011 offering 'RCSRich Communication Suite
Rich Communication Suite is an industry effort focused on the use of IMS for providing mobile phone communication services. "Rich Communication" in itself is meaningless jargon, which refers to the use of more than just voice for communication, but has long been touted as a benefit of IMS...
-lite' sharing capabilities direct to consumers.
Clients
Metaswitch claims more than 250 equipment manufacturer and 500 service provider customers, including 150 independent operating companies (IOCs) and 125 competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs)Competitive local exchange carrier
A competitive local exchange carrier , in the United States, is a telecommunications provider company competing with other, already established carriers ....
.
Awards and recognitions
- Technology Innovation and Export Sales
- The company has earned four Queen's Awards for EnterpriseQueen's Awards for EnterpriseThe Queen's Awards for Enterprise is an awards programme for British businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation or sustainable development. They are the highest official UK awards for British businesses...
for outstanding achievement in technology innovation and United Kingdom exports.
- The company has earned four Queen's Awards for Enterprise
- Human Resource Awards
- 2004–2011 Placed in the top 14 of mid-sized company category of The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work ForThe Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work ForSince 2001, the Sunday Times newspaper has published annual lists of the best companies to work for in the UK. The award is highly valued by its winners.The list ranks Britain's best companies to work for based a number of criteria...
. The highest rank was #3 in 2004. - 2005 Ranked #3 in the 50 Best Workplaces in the UK by the Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
. - 2005 One of the 100 Best Workplaces in the European Union by the Financial Times.
- 2004–2011 Placed in the top 14 of mid-sized company category of The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For
- Product/Company Awards
- 2008 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award; TMC
- 2008 Top 15 VoIP Companies – Metaswitch; Fierce VoIP
- 2008 Excellence Award – Metaswitch; Internet Telephony
- 2008, 2006 Top 100 Vendor – Metaswitch; Broadband Properties Magazine
- 2008 Diamond Award – Metaswitch; Broadband Gear Report
- 2008 VON Innovator Award – Metaswitch; VON Magazine
- 2007, 2006, 2004 Frost & Sullivan Award – MetaSwitch; Frost & Sullivan
- 2003 Pulver Top 100 – Metaswitch; pulver.com
- 2000-2005 Product of the Year – Metaswitch; Internet Telephony
Board of directors
- John Lazar, Chairman
- Kevin DeNuccio, CEO
- Graeme MacArthur, GM, Carrier Systems Division
- Ian Ferguson, Chairman of Trustees, Metaswitch EBT
- Ben Ball, Francisco PartnersFrancisco PartnersFrancisco Partners is a private equity firm focusing on structured investments in the information technology sector.Francisco Partners Management LLC was founded in August 1999 and is headquartered in San Francisco and maintains an additional office in London, United Kingdom...
- Deep Shah, Francisco PartnersFrancisco PartnersFrancisco Partners is a private equity firm focusing on structured investments in the information technology sector.Francisco Partners Management LLC was founded in August 1999 and is headquartered in San Francisco and maintains an additional office in London, United Kingdom...
- Jim GoetzJim GoetzJim Goetz is a venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital in Silicon Valley. He currently is on the board of directors for Barracuda Networks, Jive Software, MetaSwitch, Nimble Storage, Pocket Gems and Widgetbox....
, Sequoia CapitalSequoia CapitalSequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"... - Jeff Allen
- Bill Coughran, GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...