Is Paetec’s Purchase of Allworx A Positive Sign or a Negative One?
Source: smithonvoip.com
IP Phone System Consolidation Continues
Right down the road from VoIP Supply, news broke last week that CLEC Paetec has purchased IP PBX provider Allworx. According to the release, Paetec picked up Allworx for $25 million. While this is just the latest in a string of recent IP PBX consolidations, it is interesting that Allworx went for only $25 million. Based on generally available information, the number of awards, and industry recognition, I would have thought Allworx would have commanded a much higher price tag.
This makes me wonder what Digium payed for SwitchVox, who is considerably smaller than Allworx (maybe $3 - $5 million?) and what the value of other industry leading IP PBX providers such as Fonality might be. Hopefully this is just the beginning of bigger things to come for IP PBX providers and not a sign that the marketplace for IP PBX systems is not a s hot as one might expect.
