Ribbon Communication (ранее ECI Telecom)

Ribbon Communication, which merged with Israeli communications equipment manufacturer ECI Telecom in 2020, supplies communications software, IP and optical network solutions for service providers, enterprises and sectors of the economy with critical infrastructure around the world.

Products

Ribbon's comprehensive portfolio for August 2021 includes core to edge software-oriented solutions, cloud applications, advanced security and analytics tools, and IP- and optical networking solutions for 5G.

History

2020: Complete merger with Ribbon Communications

Ribbon Communications completed its previously announced acquisition of ECI Telecom, a group of companies that supplies packet optical transport and SDN/NFV solutions for service providers, enterprises and data center operators .

Recently, the merged company will offer an extensive portfolio of advanced solutions for voice, security, data and optical networks. In addition to expanding the company's portfolio of solutions in related markets, the merger develops Ribbon's strategy to expand to the 5G data area of ​ ​ the service provider using comprehensive network analysis, analytics and security. The recently merged company allows Ribbon to expand and expand its existing offerings to customers with ECI solutions for packet optical transmission.^[1]

2017: Formation of Ribbon Communications

Ribbon Communications was founded in 2017 as a result of the merger of GENBAND and Sonus Networks.

2015: Rostec is in talks to buy ECI Telecom

On November 9, 2015, it became known that ECI Telecom technologies could become the basis for creating a network for the needs of the Russian defense. To do this, Rostec is negotiating with an Israeli company on its purchase and transfer of telecommunications equipment production to the Russian Federation.

According to Kommersant, citing an IT market source and an interlocutor close to Rostec, in mid-October 2015, a delegation of the state corporation traveled to Israel to discuss a possible deal with the management of ECI Telecom. By November 9, 2015, Rostec is negotiating the purchase of ECI Telecom and the transfer of its production to Russia in order to further use the equipment in the construction of an integrated communications network for the Ministry of Defense and the FSB, the sources of the publication specify.

Rostec can buy ECI Telecom to create a defense telecom network

premature to talk about the purchase, although, of course, we are studying possible options for cooperation with various technology companies in different formats, including entering capital," the Rostec press service told the newspaper.

In February 2015, the head of the coordinating committee of the Associations for Economic Cooperation of the Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Esipov, reported that the cost of the project to acquire and localize the production of ECI Telecom equipment in Russia could amount to $5 billion. He offered to finance the purchase from the National Welfare Fund.

The press service of Rostec announced the premature talk of the amount of the transaction and called $5 billion "a very high figure."

According to Svetlana Appolonova, a member of the coordinating council for the innovative development of the electronic industry of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the second quarter of 2015, ECI tried to obtain the status of having Russian origin for its equipment, but that time the attempt was unsuccessful.^[2]

2011

In January 2011, it became known that the offer to buy the Israeli telecom vendor ECI Telecom did not meet with support from Russian officials. The deal in a letter addressed to President Dmitry Medvedev, we recall, was proposed by Israeli entrepreneur Shaul Shani, whose Swarth Group fund together with other investors owns a 100% stake in the enterprise.

According to CNews Mikhail Esipov, deputy chairman of the coordinating committee of the Association for Economic Mutual Assistance of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the investor's offer was limited in time by the end of December 2010 and, without receiving a positive answer, he withdrew it.

Deputy Minister of Communications Naum Marder expressed fears that technology may not be transferred when the company is sold. For his part, Mikhail Esipov assured CNews that the source codes of the built-in equipment, ON as well as the environment for its development, are already in. Russia

The head of the Ministry of Communications Igor Shchegolev told CNews that he did not take part in the discussion of this deal. Deputy Minister of Industry Yuri Borisov, responsible, among other things, for the development of the production of telecom equipment in Russia, also stated that he had not studied the possibility of buying ECI.

Meanwhile, ECI did not abandon attempts to establish cooperation with Russia. According to Esipov, for $50 million, the vendor is ready to license the production of its equipment in the country for 10 years.

"If the state agrees, then it will receive for this period the source codes and the right to organize local production," says Esipov. So far, according to him, not one of the foreign vendors has sold such licensing to Russia.

According to Igor Marchenko, vice president of Informinvestgroup, which signed agreements on the production of equipment in Russia with Motorola and Proxim Wireless, it is necessary to carefully approach technology transfer issues: "It is necessary to understand in detail the license for the production of which equipment ECI offers."

"Devices for the organization of fiber-optic communication lines in Russia are already manufactured by IRE-Polus, its equipment works, for example, on Svyazinvest networks. Localization of the release of transport-level components may be interesting, but you need to understand the details, "he says.

Today, Russia really has practically no licenses for the production of foreign telecommunications equipment. Igor Marchenko recalled only the Siemens production organized in the late 90s at the Kalugapribor enterprise for the production of office exchanges. Arseny Tarasov, CEO of Siemens Enterprise Communications in Russia, also called the agreements with the Kaluga enterprise a unique case.

2010

Owners of ECI Telecom

As of 2010, ECI Telecom was owned by a group of private investors led by Swarth Group and Ashmore Investment Management Ltd.

Attempt to sell the company to the Russian government

On December 6, 2010, it became known that the Ministry of Communications considers the proposal of Shaul Shani, chairman of the board of directors of the Israeli communications equipment manufacturer ECI Telecom, to sell it to Russia for $2.5 billion^[3], "controversial." ]This is stated in a letter from Deputy Minister of Communications Naum Marder to the head of the presidential expert department Ilya Lomakin-Rumyantsev. With such a "business proposal," Shani addressed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev a month ago. There was an appeal, presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich confirmed to Vedomosti.

Marder's letter says: ECI Telecom equipment is modern, but not the last generation; in addition, there is no "complete certainty" that together with ECI Telecom, the buyer will receive its technologies.

Back in 2009, ECI Telecom entered into a 10-year licensing agreement with the Russian NGO Baikal, promising to transfer to it source codes for certification and the equipment development environment, says Mikhail Esipov, deputy chairman of the coordinating committee of the Association for Economic Mutual Assistance of the Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation. This association supports Shani's proposal. The deal will allow Russia to restore the electronic industry and stop paying foreigners tens of billions of dollars for "iron," he is sure. According to Esipov, the purchase of ECI Telecom is supported by law enforcement agencies - for example, the FSO Academy.

If there is a buyer for ECI Telecom, then not the Russian government, Dvorkovich believes. It would be strange to spend taxpayers' money on such a purchase, he concludes. But investors are negotiating the purchase of ECI Telecom, Dvorkovich added, without specifying details.

ECI Telecom business in Russia

At different times, this manufacturer supplied equipment to a number of Russian telecom operators, for example, Vimpelkom, Synterre, Uralsvyazinform, etc. Collaborates with ECI Telecom and Voentelecom, its general director Nikolai Tamodin told Vedomosti: the operator is testing Israeli equipment of the standard WiMax - and tests show normal results. As part of the open testing program for wireless broadband Internet access equipment, Voentelecom is ready to continue cooperation with ECI and test its LTE standard equipment in test areas in Moscow, after which the conversation could become more substantive, Tamodin says.

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