New Telco Systems CEO targets greater growth

An article by Connected Planet Online

More acquisitions could be part of the carrier Ethernet vendor’s strategy

Itzik Weinstein, appointed this week to head up Telco Systems, joins the Carrier Ethernet equipment vendor at a time when service providers are making substantial investments in that technology. He comes to the company with substantial telecom industry experience, including stints with ECtel, VocalTec, and NetManage. Weinstein talked to Connected Planet this morning about his plans to maximize Telco Systems’ growth opportunities.

Connected Planet: Tell us why you joined Telco Systems.

Weinstein:I had been in contact with BATM [Telco Systems’ parent company] for a couple of months. They are increasing emphasis on the Telco division within BATM and looking for growth in this division. Telco System has done great and we want to see it grow [even more].

Connected Planet: The carrier Ethernet and mobile backhaul product areas are getting quite crowded. How do you see Telco Systems differentiating its offerings in those areas?

Weinstein: The market is getting crowded but we also see a lot of consolidation in this area. Telco Systems has a great track record in this market. We have cash and we’re looking for growth. We will continue to find our niche and growth and continue to be profitable.

Connected Planet: It sounds like you might be interested in making more acquisitions.

Weinstein: We are constantly looking at the market. If we see opportunities that might be a fit and [help us] grow and [help] our operations and market share, we will consider them.

Connected Planet:You recently acquired the assets of Anda Networks. What are your plans for that business?

Weinstein: Anda has customers from Tier 1 levels and complementary products and customers for us. It looked like a win/win. We can grow our product portfolio and customer base and this gives us the opportunity to grow revenues.

End-to-end service management is key
Connected Planet: You have been putting quite a lot of emphasis on management capabilities for Ethernet. How important is that to service providers?

Weinstein: We believe it’s very important. The transition is from selling boxes to selling solutions. As the market becomes more mature, advanced and smart, [service providers will] need the capability to manage services from the starting point to the endpoint. The management solution is very important to a full solution end to end.

Connected Planet:What is your revenue mix geographically and do you have any plans to target new markets or shift that mix?

Weinstein: We’re about 50% in North America and 50% in the rest of the world. We hope to continue to push into new territories and enlarge our market share and customer base. . . We will elaborate more in the future.

Connected Planet: Your customers include a variety of service provider types, including cable companies, and large and small telcos and utility companies. What do you see as the key infrastructure initiatives for each of those customer types?

Weinstein: The benefit of our plan is that [we] manage services to the edge and not just in core systems, and this is a capability that is very important to service providers, especially if they are not very big ones. More and more types of operators are providing these services to customers and our solution [provides capabilities] they have not had until today.