Siemens Snaps up Chantry

Siemens will acquire wireless LAN technology player Chantry Networks to fill out its HiPath lineup, executives said Thursday.

The two sides are familiar with each other, having a number of testing projects already in the works.

Siemens said the long-term strategy is to add additional VoIP capabilities and other voice communications technologies to its HiPath portfolio.

Tom Racca, vice president of marketing at Chantry, told internetnews.com the product roadmaps will start to merge a bit.

"They have a lot of enterprise experience, but WLAN was a hole for them, and we are here to fill in the gap," he said. According to analysts, Siemens' VoIP connections holds 38.6 percent of the market, but it would like more. Customers include BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Bank, Ford, IBM, Kodak, SAP, BP and Volvo.

Racca said Chantry's plan to outfit the company's BeaconWorks products with technology to allow access by different third-party manufacturers is expected to go unfettered.

The deal also brings a future roadmap for WiMAX and GSM to the Siemens table. The HiPath family currently uses second-generation IP (2gIP) applications. Chantry has been planning to outfit its access points with the ubiquitous wireless connectivity technologies. Racca said the vision is similar to the cellular industry where Wireless LAN companies build subscriber systems to establish policies.

"For example, if you were running a college campus, you would have separate groups for students, faculty, administrators and plant management and have different security policies for each class of users," Racca.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The purchase is expected to conclude in the first part of 2005.

In a separate announcement, AT&T said it will continue providing networking services for Siemens under a four-year, $174 million contract renewal.