Netgear To Buy Westell CNS In Telecom Service Provider Play

Once the deal closes as expected in the second quarter, Netgear will pay about $33.5 million in cash for all of Westell's CNS division except certain customer relations. That business generated about $39.5 million in revenue for Westell in 2010, Netgear said.

Netgear, San Jose, Calif., is a supplier of security, networking, storage, and wireless access point equipment for home, business, and service provider customers. On the service provider side, it provides mobile broadband, routers and gateways, powerline networking, wireless equipment, and home security equipment.

Westell's CNS division includes the development of products for high-speed transport and networking of voice, data, video, and other services over copper and fiber infrastructures.

Once the acquisition is complete, Netgear plans to bring the Westell CNS products to the Netgear customer base while opening its own product portfolio to the CNS customer base.

Patrick Lo, Chairman and CEO of Netgear, said in a statement that the deal will make Netgear a leading provider of home networking equipment to the U.S. telecommunications service provider market.

"The addition of the CNS customer base that we are acquiring will allow us to accelerate our service provider revenue growth and strengthen our market position among North America Telecommunications operators," Lo said.

Netgear was unavailable for further comment.