Not to long ago the company Procket was for sale, and maybe by the end of next week the buyer of Procket will be announced (if the deal finalizes by then). The two possible companies competing over the purchase of Procket are Cisco Systems and Foundry Networks. The likely price range for this deal is between $80 million and $200 million. Procket made high-end routers that where used for shutting traffic across the internet. It's no surprise why these two companies want to acquire Procket.
Procket Networks has put itself up for sale at a rock-bottom price, sources said, in a disappointing denouement for one of the most closely watched and richly valued telecommunications start-ups in Silicon Valley history.
A deal is expected to be announced as early as next week, but the buyer is still unknown, two sources close to Procket staffers said. The sources confirmed that both Cisco Systems and Foundry Networks have emerged as potential acquirers. The price tag for the deal is likely in the range of $80 million to $200 million, the sources said, well below the staggering $300 million in venture capital funding Procket had attracted over the years. Representatives of Procket and Cisco declined to comment for this story. Foundry did not return calls by press time.
Procket, which makes high-end routers for shunting traffic across the Internet, epitomizes the overexuberant investment climate of the late 1990s. Founded in 1999 at the height of the telecommunications spending frenzy, the company was expected to become the next big challenger to Cisco and Juniper Networks in the core Internet Protocol routing market. Together, Cisco and Juniper make up more than 90 percent of the market. But after five years on the scene, Procket has failed to live up to expectations.
News source: C|Net News.com
