Overture Networks, Hatteras Networks agree to merge

Jeff Reedy, CEO of Overture, and Kevin Sheehan, who holds the same title at Hatteras, declined to provide financial details of the merger between the two privately held companies in a teleconference with the press yesterday afternoon. They also demurred when asked to estimate the revenue numbers the combined company would generate. However, when Michael Howard, lead analyst at market research firm Infonetics Research offered a range between $60 million and $80 million, Reedy responded, “You may have underestimated us.”

Reedy will retain his CEO title when the merger completes, an event the two executives estimated would take another two or three weeks. Sheehan will become president. They did not provide details of how the executive teams of the two companies will combine.

The executives said that the idea of merging had been a topic of discussion for at least the past three years, generated by the fact that both companies call Research Triangle Park, NC, home and the lack of overlap they see in their respective product lines. Overture Networks had focused mainly on a fiber-optic network approach to Carrier Ethernet edge and aggregation applications (Sidera Networks recently deployed the company's ISG 6000 Carrier Ethernet aggregation platform), while Hatteras had attacked similar requirements based on a bonded-copper scheme. Both product lines will continue to be supported under the Overture Networks brand name, Reedy and Sheehan said.