Cisco boosts Tandberg bid

Cisco Systems has bumped up its buyout offer to $3.41 billion for video conferencing company Tandberg, reports CNET News.

The network giant's initial bid received a thumbs-down from most of Tandberg's shareholders, who felt the initial $3 billion offer undervalued the company.

So far, more than 40% of Tandberg's stockholders, which includes investment firm OppenheimerFunds and Norwegian government pension fund Folketrygdfondet, have pre-accepted the new offer.

Avaya will support discontinued Nortel products for up to five years, states Computing.co.uk.

The vendor's buyout of its fallen rival is set to close next month. At Avaya's partner conference in Prague this month, vice-president of sales Todd Abbott said: “Integrated roadmaps will be completed within 30 days of the transaction. Anything that gets end-of-lifed will still be shipped for 12 to 18 months and supported for three to five years.”

Abbott says the vendor would strive to eliminate duplication. He added: “We will be objective about it.”

Motorola will purchase the broadband video company BitBand in order to bolster the growing demand for home video services, says InformationWeek.

BitBand specialises in infrastructure and software to deliver IP TV services, as well as products for on-demand content-delivery networks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the privately-held BitBand had been seeking a $4 billion to $5 billion acquisition price according to media reports.

Motorola says it expects the deal to be finalised by the end of the year. BitBand would be folded into Motorola's Broadband Home Solutions, which also makes wireless networking equipment and set-top cable boxes.