In a move designed to capitalize on fixed/mobile convergence and increased scale, IP Unity has acquired the Glenayre Messaging division of Glenayre Technologies. The $25 million transaction, set to close next month, will bring together Glenayre’s mobile messaging capabilities with IP Unity’s broadband and wireline multimedia applications.

The new company, IP Unity Glenayre, will have a larger base of existing customers--about 300 telco, cable, wireless and converged service providers--as well as a broader product line positioned well for the move to IP multimedia subsystem technology, when that takes place, said Arun Sobti, chairman and CEO of IP Unity.

“This makes us, behind Comverse, perhaps the largest independent purveyor of enhanced services,” Sobti. “With the combination of the wireless solutions that Glenayre has, and the position we have in wireline and broadband, it gives us a complete portfolio to compete against the other independents.”

Glenayre Technologies had sought to spin off its messaging division since the company acquired Entertainment Distribution Co., a manufacturer of pre-recorded entertainment, last June, said James Cabarro, president and CEO. Merging Glenayre Messaging with IP Unity, he said, “is very exciting for us because it accomplishes that objective and we think this is the perfect match.”

With consolidation in the service provider sector and the movement of cable companies into wireless, the industry needs solutions that span wireline, wireless and broadband, Sobti said.

“At some point they all really need the same solutions in terms of applications,” he said. “What happens if a call doesn’t complete, how can they reach their friends at the same time, how can they create vanity services so can they have a better users experience than they have today? These are issues for all service providers. Companies that succeed are the ones that have scale and are nimble, that can go from application to application and provide the differentiation that service providers need to compete with other service providers in their region. We will do whatever we can do to make the revenue line increase and the churn decrease for our customers.”

As a combined company, IP Unity Glenayre is also better positioned for the transition to IMS, whenever that happens, he said.

“We agree IMS will be here someday, but someday is what everyone has to figure out,” he said. “In this particular case, with this union, we straddle that migration as we move from legacy to the IP world and from independent wireless, wireline and broadband to the converged world. We have hedged our bets – we will be driving the IMS movement as hard as we ever did. But we are not depending on IMS, we will still have our constituents. We are in a position, having a strong customer base, to control the migration, and to help our customers through it.”