Intel sells media and signaling business to Eicon

Intel today announced that it will transfer its media and signaling business division to Eicon Networks. The deal includes all products and technologies Intel acquired with the purchase of Dialogic back in 1999 - such as telecom boards and telecom software : Among the the key products are Host Media Processing (HMP) software and HMP-enabled blades as well as the complete line of SS7, PBX integration and gateway solutions. Financial details of the sale were not released.

Intel spokeswoman Barbara Grimes told TG Daily that the deal was not part of Intel’s ongoing "corporate efficiency" program, which, for example, included the sale of Intel’s XScale handheld production rights to Marvell for $600 million. According to Grimes, negotiations about the sale of the business unit had been initiated before the firm’s streamlining process was announced.

Intel said that the transition involves about 600 employees "in a variety of functions, including engineering, product testing and validation, operations and marketing." A "significant number of these employees" are expected to become employees of Eicon. However, Grimes said there may be redundancies and some employees could be "re-deployed".