Exfo acquires Ontology Systems for $7.6 million
Created March 14, 2017
News and BusinessAcquisition strengthens Exfo’s offering in service assurance and 3D analytics for hybrid physical-virtual networks.
Exfo, a network test, data and analytics company, has acquired the privately-held Ontology Systems, based in London, UK, a developer of real-time network topology discovery and service-chain mapping, for a total consideration of US$7.6 million, net of cash. Ontology uses graph-data and semantic searches to build real-time views of network services and related network elements.
Network functions virtualisation and software defined networking (SDN) technologies make communications infrastructures more agile to support new services on the fly. This has created the need for an automated network inventory solution integrated with probing agents to accelerate fault discovery, root-cause analysis and eventually closed-loop automation in hybrid physical-virtual environments.
The combination of Ontology Systems’ expertise in mapping complex, cross-domain, multi-layer network topologies with Exfo’s end-to-end service assurance and real-time 3D analytics solutions is expected to deliver operators and analysts a comprehensive view across physical, virtual and hybrid networks.
‘Troubleshooting’
Germain Lamonde, Exfo’s founder, chairman and CEO, commented, “This strategic acquisition positions Exfo with agile, real-time visualisation and troubleshooting solutions that enable communications service providers to manage their networks more efficiently.”
“Combining Exfo’s physical and virtual probes and real-time analytics solution, with Ontology Systems’ mapping methodology, delivers an unmatched value proposition for monitoring and managing next-generation networks. Based on early discussions with CSPs, this offering is resonating strongly with them.”
Ontology Systems generated approximately US$4.0 million in revenue during the past 12 months, including sales to tier-1 CSPs. The acquisition is expected to be neutral to EXFO’s adjusted EBITDA in fiscal 2017 and accretive thereafter.
Benedict Enweani, Ontology Systems’ CEO and Co-Founder, commented, “We are very pleased to become an integral part of the Exfo team. Leveraging EXFO’s global sales, support channels and brand-name recognition will greatly accelerate our plans to deliver service agility to CSPs worldwide.”
