Veraz Networks
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Veraz Networks, formerly known as ipVerse, is a Softswitch and media gateway manufacturer. Veraz Softswitch 'ControlSwitch' and has won 'Product of the year award' from VoIP magazines. Veraz Media Gateway IGate 4000 series was rated with highest VoIP quality in ETSI VoIP quality testing. Veraz networks also manufactures DCME equipment used for TDM or non-VoIP compression. It has 80% market share for this compression product.
Company History ipVerse was started as a softswitch company in late 1998 by three founders Vijay Nadkarni, Gursharan Sidhu and R.Paul Singh. Norwest Ventures was its first investor with Battery Ventures and Kleiner Perkins joining in the subsequent rounds. The company was a pioneer in the softswitch technology and grabbed attention of the telecom industry. Art Klein was brought in as CEO after R. Paul Singh, the first CEO, of the company was relegated to the role of Marketing and Business Development. The company became a victim of the greed of 2000 and spent money too fast and then couldn't raise enough funding to continue operation.
ipVerse technological lead was well recognized in the industry and more by its investors who wanted to revive the company. They re-funded a sub-set of the original ipVerse and bought its intellectual property. That was in Nov 2001 and ipVerse was reborn lean and mean with only 60 employees as NexVerse Networks. This time besides the original three founders of ipVerse, NexVerse's newly appointed CEO Amit Chawla became another founder of the company.
The company struggled for another year as the market languished and it survived on two of its customers and lots of hope. Then in Nov 2002, technically NexVerse bought NGTS division of ECI Telecom which was making DCME and Media Gateways. However, NexVerse had to pay for that in its stock. It raised $30M of new money from ECI, its existing investors and Argonaut Capital and ECI became a majority owner of the company. This is when the company changed its name to Veraz Networks, Inc. and appointed Tal Simchony, GM of NGTS group of ECI, as its new CEO.
Tal Simchony managed the company with a tight fist; something that was needed at that time as times were still tough and Veraz was a new company with some new and some old products. DCME products did very well and continued to fund company's efforts in opening its market for VoIP products; its softswitch called ControlSwitch and its media gateways called I-Gate 4000.
The company board brought Doug Sabella as new CEO in 2004 to help grow the company faster and look for exit. Veraz is growing nicely now and may try to go public in 2006-2007 time frame.
