Page 1 of 3
ShoreTel Thursday said it will acquire fixed mobile convergence vendor Agito Networks for about $11.4 million. The move gives UC-savvy ShoreTel a fast-growth vendor with both an intensive focus on the mobility space and an expanding channel footprint.
Founded in 2006, Agito has been focused on UC products that integrate with an enterprise's existing PBX infrastructure to enable voice calls over VoIP connections. International cell phone calls being as expensive as they are, Agito's aim has been to extend enterprise UC functionality to mobile devices while reducing calling costs and making mobile communications less cumbersome.
"The smartphone is changing the way people work, and knowledge workers almost universally have a smartphone in their pocket," said Kevin Gavin, ShoreTel's vice president of marketing, in an interview with CRN. "Not only are they communication devices, but they're also where people get their news, sports, directions, whatever, and the idea of essentially making that smartphone an extension of their work phone is a very powerful concept. That's the holy grail: a seamless mobility solution that just works where anybody is."
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Agito's 17 employees, including its co-founders, CTO Tim Olson and Chief Marketing Officer Pejman Roshan, will all join ShoreTel, based in nearby Sunnyvale. Agito's flagship RoamAnywhere Mobility Router will be rebranded as the Shoretel Mobility Solution.
Earlier this year, Agito debuted Agito Global Enterprise, a slate of new products that included version 4.0 of RoamAnywhere, and enabling enterprise VoIP calls over 3G cellular networks.
