Provisioning and activation vendor Syndesis will announce a definitive agreement to acquire CoManage this week as it embarks on a growth strategy that includes targeting wireless operators and extending into adjacent technologies such as service assurance and data integrity management.

Toronto-based Syndesis provides operations support systems (OSS) primarily for Layer 2 and Layer 3 services. Pittsburgh-based CoManage, which made its mark with its auto-discovery technology, provides data integrity solutions for Layer 1 services such as DACS, Sonet and SDH.

“Even though we both bring comprehensive discovery technology to the table, they are surprisingly complementary,” said Dave Nelson, CoManage CEO. “By uniting them into a single discovery product, we end up with a huge footprint of network types, service types and device types we can support right out of the gate.”

CoManage's TrueSource product line will be integrated with Syndesis' NetProvision products. The TrueSource brand will remain, while the CoManage name becomes OSS history. Upon close, Nelson will become president of Syndesis' data integrity business and vice president of business development.

CoManage also brings Syndesis several important customers, including BT, Cingular, Sprint and Verizon Wireless, to add to its own 20 or more major service provider clients. Just prior to the merger, CoManage and Syndesis worked together on a project at Telecom Italia, where they proved their compatibility in a live network environment with Telcordia's Granite inventory system.

“The timing couldn't be better because this comes at a pivotal point where major change is underfoot, and people are making strategic investments,” said Chris Swan, senior vice president of sales, marketing and alliances at Syndesis. “And they are realizing how critical the OSS infrastructure can be in getting them where they want to go.”