| Company type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Networking hardware |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder | Siemens AG |
| Defunct | 2002 |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| Products | Network security, Workstations and Microprocessors |
| Website | www.unispherenetworks.com (archived) |
Unisphere Networks (formally Unisphere Solutions) was a Westford, Massachusetts-based networking equipment manufacturer and subsidiary of German corporation Siemens AG. Formed in 1998 at a cost of roughly US$1 billion,[1] Unisphere was later sold to Juniper Networks in May 2002 for between $585 million[2] and $740 million, as $375 million in cash and 36.5 million shares of Juniper stock.[3][4]
Long known for their expertise in the circuit-switched realm of public-switched telephone networks (or PSTNs), Siemens embarked on a market strategy that held, as a primary goal, entry into the North American packet-switched market arena.[1] Unisphere Solutions (changed to Unisphere Networks in late 2000) was an essential element of this strategy as it leveraged existing technology in, at the time, three critical and growing areas of the Internet: edge-networking/BRAS, voice mediation, and core routing.[1]
Following the acquisition of Redstone Communications, CEO and founder James Dolce, joined the Unisphere management team and for a time reported to then Unisphere CEO Martin C. Clague. Dolce replaced Clague in January 2000 when the former was appointed as Unisphere's president and CEO.[5]
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