Lucent seeks to grab bigger share of Ethernet carrier market

Ethernet equipment vendor Riverstone Networks announced yesterday that it will be acquired by Lucent Technologies after the US vendor was declared winner of the auction for the sale of Riverstone's business.

Lucent's final bid was $207m in cash, as well as certain modifications to the Asset Purchase Agreement originally signed by both parties on 7 February.

The terms are subject to final approval by the US Bankruptcy Courts, which is scheduled to make its decision on 23 March.

"We are excited to become a part of Lucent, and believe that our customers will benefit from end-to-end solutions from a single source as a result of the combination of our businesses," said Oscar Rodriguez, president and chief executive at Riverstone.

Ken Wirth, president of multimedia network solutions at Lucent, added: " Riverstone's people and products will play an important role in advancing Lucent's end-to-end converged Ethernet/optical solutions and helping us in our efforts to take share of a growing Ethernet carrier market."

Riverstone Networks is a provider of carrier Ethernet infrastructure for business and residential communications services.