[VoiceOps] Alianza Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Metaswitch from Microsoft

[Jeff Brower]

Ryan if this is accurate, I wonder how many ex-Metaswitchers will end  
up at Alianza. Or maybe some already are ?

Quoting Ryan Delgrosso via VoiceOps <voiceops at voiceops.org>:

> I would not place any bets on there being a holistic end state  
> worldview attached to this acquisition vs it just being a metabolic  
> process.
>
> Microsoft had a hole in their Teams / SFB product. The telco side sucked.
>
> They thought they could buy a telco vendor and fill that hole. The  
> driving exec team would get to place a feather in their caps and  
> claim they drew the proverbial sword from the stone and should each  
> be granted their own kingdoms.
>
> The Metaswitch ownership got to take delivery of gold plated  
> dumptrucks full of cash.
>
> Once the ink was dry a culture war ensued. Metaswitch wanted to  
> continue sucking in their own entirely British/telco way where the  
> end user carrier should not be permitted to do almost anything.  
> Microsoft insisted they begin sucking in entirely new cloud/azurian  
> ways. In response nearly all meta employees have exited, so there's  
> now a disenfranchised customer base of orphaned carriers and no  
> supporting brainpower, meanwhile all customers have felt the sword  
> of Damocles over them the whole time never sure if their business  
> would have a path forward. Many have already made other plans for  
> product continuity by switching to other vendors or outsourcing  
> their tech entirely.
>
> The purges I believe concluded last year with most of the original  
> meta team members being released save for a very select few who were  
> offered roles inside the teams / azure org.
>
> I think this sale is Microsoft selling the proverbial owl-pellet of  
> what remains of its Metaswitch acquisition. I'm not sure what actual  
> value Microsoft actually derived from this exercise but I am sure  
> this move represents the final step of digestion where some  
> loss/depreciation is written off in FY24
>
> -Ryan
>
> On 12/11/2024 9:51 AM, Alex Balashov via VoiceOps wrote:
>>> On Dec 11, 2024, at 12:46 pm, Enzo Damato via VoiceOps  
>>> <voiceops at voiceops.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> I think Microsoft's big goal with this was to acquire a working,  
>>> reliable SIP and IMS stack. I would put money on the metaswtich  
>>> technology being a big part of what's running teams and their  
>>> other VoIP platforms in the backed. Now that they've presumably  
>>> merged that tech into their stack, they have no interest in  
>>> continuing to service the ILEC/CLEC market.
>> You might be right. But if they had just licensed this from a major  
>> softswitch vendor like Metaswitch, or got the professional services  
>> / consulting arm of Metaswitch (or whoever) to do the integration  
>> for them, they might have spent a lot less than $270MM and without  
>> any of the drama.
>>
>> -- Alex
>>
> _______________________________________________
> VoiceOps mailing list
> VoiceOps at voiceops.org
> https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/voiceops