Aastra promises new investment

NEW INVESTMENT and an increased focus on the enterprise market have been promised to partners and customers of Ericsson's Enterprise Business, which was recently acquired by Canadian firm Aastra.

Some 10 per cent of the company's turnover has been promised as investment in the business, a figure that equates to about € 60 million a year.

The company offers a range of integrated communications products aimed at customers of all sizes, including open standard internet protocol (IP)-based and traditional networking solutions such as communications servers, gateways, telephone terminals and VoIP endpoints, wireless products, and advanced software applications.

While many overseas firms are concentrating on the US before expanding into Europe, Aastra has done the opposite. Its expansion in Europe has been gradual over the past few years, with the Canadian firm buying up companies all over the continent in a bid to increase its European business. "It's very difficult to start a business from scratch. Having some level of footprint helps a great deal. This latest acquisition is key to that," said Aastra president Tony Shen.

The move has paid off. The company now has more than 2,300 employees and has had more than 40 consecutive profitable quarters. Mr Shen, who is joint chief executive of Aastra with his brother Francis, says European interests account for about 70 per cent of Aastra's business, compared to 15 per cent for the US.

Its quiet growth in Europe began in September 2003, when Aastra bought Ascom's PBX System Division in Switzerland, followed in March 2005 by an assault on the French market with the purchase of EADS Telecom's PBX System Division. Germany was next on the list, with Aastra buying up DeTeWe in August the same year. The most recent acquisition was Ericsson's Enterprise Business at the end of April this year.

Mr Shen said: "The Ericsson acquisition also gave us a really nice footprint throughout the world. We now have presence in South America - it reinforces our presence in North America. It gives us presence in Asia, Oceania - Australia and New Zealand - the Middle East, Africa and Central Eastern Europe as well."

Mr Shen was in Ireland this week to meet Damovo's customers in an attempt to lay to rest any concerns they may have about where Ericsson Enterprise was going. Damovo, itself a former Ericsson Enterprise spin-off, is optimistic about the takeover.

"Aastra is enterprise focused. It will lead to a stronger business for both of us, a significant investment in the portfolio, and a focus on enterprise from the vendor, which for us as the systems integrator is key," said Damovo managing director John McCabe.

"They are going to continue with the road maps that Ericsson already established, and they're going to continue to invest in the current Ericsson portfolio. One of the strengths of Aastra is that they have a number of very good SIP handsets, which was a weakness in the Ericsson portfolio - they didn't really invest in it. With Aastra I think you're going to see a shift back in that."

Aastra has not finished growing just yet. Mr Shen says the company has its eye on strategic acquisitions that will be well chosen. "The bigger you are, sometimes the more difficult it is to find the right complement. You can't just go buy anything and expect it to fit. If there's too much overlap, you're not gaining anything."