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Ribbon Communication, which teamed up with Israeli communications equipment manufacturer ECI Telecom in 2020, delivers communication software, IP and optical networking solutions to service providers, businesses and economic sectors with critical infrastructure around the world.
Products
Ribbon's portfolio of comprehensive solutions for August 2021 includes software-centric solutions such as core to edge, cloudy applications, advanced security tools and, as well analysts as IP and optical networking solutions for. 5G
History
2025: IT Infrastructure Hack - Many Secret Files Stolen
At the end of October 2025, the American telecommunications company Ribbon Communications announced a hack of its IT infrastructure. Cybercriminals have been secretly on Ribbon systems for nine months, with access to a host of classified files.
Ribbon was formed in 2017 by the merger of Genband and Sonus Networks. The company provides cloud-based communication solutions as well as IP and optical networking products to service providers, various businesses and critical infrastructure organizations around the world. Ribbon's clients include Verizon, Deutsche Telekom, CenturyLink, BT, TalkTalk, Softbank and Tata, as well as the U.S. Department of Defense, the University of Texas at Austin, the Los Angeles Public Library and other government and commercial entities.
For 9
Ribbon identified suspicious activity on its systems in September 2025. The investigation showed that cybercriminals carried out the hack back in December 2024, after which they imperceptibly "sat" on the company's network. It is argued that hackers associated with government structures of an unnamed country may be involved in the attack. It was established that the cyber incident affected a number of Ribbon customers.
 | While at the moment we have no evidence to indicate that attackers have gained access to any material information, we continue to work with third-party experts to assess the consequences of the hack, Ribbon officials said. |  |
The company notes that the attackers gained access to the files of some customers, which were stored on two laptops outside the main network. Ribbon is taking the necessary measures to strengthen the protection of its IT infrastructure "to prevent such incidents in the future."[1]
2020: Completion of merger with Ribbon Communications
Ribbon Communications has completed its previously announced acquisition of the ECI Telecom group of companies, which supplies packet optical transport and SDN/NFV solutions to service providers, businesses and data center operators .
The newly merged company will offer an extensive portfolio of advanced solutions for voice communication,, safety transmission and. data In optical networks addition to expanding the company's portfolio of solutions in related markets, the merger develops Ribbon's strategy to expand to 5G the service provider's data area through comprehensive network analysis, analytics and security. The newly merged company allows Ribbon to expand and expand its existing customer offerings with ECI solutions for packet optical transmission.[2]
2017: Ribbon Communications Education
Ribbon Communications was founded in 2017 with the merger of GENBAND and Sonus Networks.
2015: Rostec 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 Russia's defense. To do this, Rostec is negotiating with an Israeli company to buy it and transfer the production of telecommunications equipment to the Russian Federation.
According to Kommersant, citing a source in the IT market 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 leadership of ECI Telecom. By November 9, 2015, Rostec was 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 communication network for the Ministry of Defense and the FSB, sources said.
"It is too early 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 of Economic Interaction 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 be $5 billion. He offered to finance the purchase from the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
The press service of Rostec announced the premature talk about the amount of the transaction and called the $5 billion "a very high figure."
According to Svetlana Appolonova, a member of the coordinating council for the innovative development of the radio-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 at that time the attempt was unsuccessful.[3]
2011: Russia refuses offer to acquire ECI Telecom
In January 2011, it became known that the offer to buy the Israeli telecom vendor ECI Telecom did not meet with the support of Russian officials. The deal in a letter addressed to President Dmitry Medvedev was proposed by Israeli businessman Shaul Shani, whose Swarth Group fund, together with other investors, owns a 100% stake in the enterprise.
As Mikhail Esipov, Deputy Chairman of the Coordination Committee of the Association for Mutual Economic Assistance of the Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation, told CNews, the investor's proposal was limited in time by the end of December 2010 and, without receiving a positive answer, he withdrew it.
The Deputy Minister of Communications Naum Marder expressed fears that when selling the company, technologies may not be transferred. 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 Telecom and Mass Communications Igor Shchegolev told CNews that he did not take part in the discussion of this transaction. Deputy Minister of Industry Iouri Borisov, responsible for, among other things, the development of telecom equipment production in Russia, also stated that he had not studied the possibility of buying ECI.
Meanwhile, the 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, it will receive for this period the source codes and the right to organize local production," says Esipov. So far, according to him, none 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, technology transfer issues should be approached carefully: "We need to understand in detail what kind of equipment license ECI offers."
"Devices for organizing fiber-optic communication lines in Russia are already produced by IRE-Polus, its equipment works, for example, on networks Svyazinvest." Localizing 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 remembered only the Siemens production organized in the late 90s at the Kalugapribor enterprise for the production of office PBXs. Arseniy Tarasov, CEO of Siemens Enterprise Communications in Russia, also called the agreements with the Kaluga enterprise a unique case.
2010
Owners of ECI Telecom
The owners of ECI Telecom as of 2010 were 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 Telecom and Mass Communications considers the proposal of the chairman of the board of directors of the Israeli telecommunications equipment manufacturer ECI Telecom Shaul Shani to sell it to Russia for $2.5 billion[4]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 turned a month ago to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The appeal was confirmed to Vedomosti by presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich.
Marder's letter says: ECI Telecom's equipment is modern, but not the latest generation; in addition, there is no "complete certainty" that along with ECI Telecom, the buyer will receive its technology.
Back in 2009, ECI Telecom entered into a 10-year license production agreement with the Russian NGO Baikal, promising to transfer the source codes for certification and the equipment development environment to it, says Mikhail Esipov, deputy chairman of the coordination committee of the Association for Mutual Economic 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 in talks to buy 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, VimpelCom, Sinterre, Uralsvyazinform, etc. Collaborates with ECI Telecom and Voentelecom, its CEO Nikolai Tamodin told Vedomosti: the operator is testing Israeli WiMax equipment - and the 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 equipment in test areas in Moscow, after which the conversation could become more substantive, Tamodin says.
Notes
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