Microsoft announces agreement to acquire Metaswitch Networks

REDMOND, Wash./LONDON (UPI) — Microsoft said Thursday it has agreed to acquire Metaswitch Networks to expand its cloud-based telecom offerings.

The announcement follows the acquisition last month of fifth-generation technology for cellular networks specialist Affirmed Networks. The goal is to leverage the technology of both organizations to extend the Microsoft Azure cloud computing service platform to expand telecommunication industry offerings.

“The convergence of cloud and communication networks presents a unique opportunity for Microsoft to serve operators globally via continued investment in Azure, adding additional depth of our hyperscale cloud infrastructure with the specialized software required to run virtualized communication functions, applications and networks,” Azure Networking Corporate Vice President Yousef Khalidi said in a blog.

The Microsoft announcement did not disclose terms of the deal.

Metaswitch Networks is “a leading provider of virtualized network software and voice, data and communications solutions for operators,” according to the blog.

“We have fueled the telecommunications industry through multiple technology eras and evolutions, most recently pioneering the development of ultra-high performance cloud native communications software,” Metaswitch Networks CEO Martin Lund said in a statement regarding Microsoft’s acquisition of the U.K.-based company. “This software is underpinning modern cloud-based communications networks, in the core and at the edge, and has driven today’s announcement with Microsoft.”

The deal is part of an industry move to 5G products for network traffic to run on public cloud infrastructure instead of customers having to add capacity to their own data centers to support higher speeds of network use.

Metaswitch has a list of customers, including British Telecom, Sprint, which T-Mobile now owns, Swisscom, Telstra and Vodafone telecommunication companies, among them.

Reporting by Sommer Brokaw