In a move to extend Nortel’s “Unified Communications Capabilities”, the company announced that it has purchased Pingtel. Pingtel is  a designer of software-based unified communications solutions which helped pioneer the concept of open-source IP telephony and is owned by Bluesocket Inc. Pingtel is best known for its SIPxchange software, a SIP-based PBX product targeted at small and medium-sized business users.

“This acquisition is another building block in Nortel’s vision to be a software-centric company and the leading provider of unified communications solutions,” said David Downing, general manager, Enterprise and SMB Communications Systems, Nortel. “We believe that bringing Pingtel’s critical R&D capabilities in-house will enable us to further develop software-based solutions that go beyond the boundaries of our previous OEM relationship. We expect that this will enable Nortel to accelerate the development of new IT-centric channels to market.”

The acquisition is Nortel’s stepped up efforts to become one of the key players in the  “unified communications” business.

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