COMTEK ACQUIRES SORRENTO NETWORKS IPR AND TRADEMARKS
September 18, 2014 – Comtek, a pan-European aftermarket service provider to the telecoms industry with headquarters in Deeside, North Wales, has today announced its acquisition of all the intellectual property rights (IPR) and trademarks belonging to telecoms network equipment manufacturer, Sorrento Networks. Comtek will service, support, repair, manufacture and upgrade all Sorrento Networks equipment currently deployed within service provider, operator and enterprise networks.
Prior to January 2014, Sorrento Networks specialised in developing optical access solutions, offering CWDM, DWDM and ROADM products. The GigaMux product line, renowned for its reliability and performance, was designed to efficiently add bandwidth to clients’ networks and transport mission-critical services and applications across the network infrastructure.
With history and experience of repairing Sorrento Networks’ product portfolio, Comtek is uniquely positioned to support all existing customer deployments: bug fixes, spares provisions and inventory to existing customers. This will extend the life of all existing Sorrento Networks’ deployments and Comtek also plans to continue the development of the existing product set. Sorrento Networks’ current installed customer base will be engaged to formulate a market driven Plan of Record, with feature set and upgrade plans to be announced in due course.
“We are thrilled with the acquisition of Sorrento Networks’ IPR and trademarks,” said John Freebairn, group director and vice president of business development at Comtek, and former Nortel MD. “Sorrento Networks’ solutions underpin the network operations of some of the world’s largest carriers, service providers, enterprises and data centre services providers across the world. At Comtek, we have spent years repairing and servicing this equipment, putting us in a great position to meet the needs of Sorrento Networks’ customers now, and to develop the technology they will need in the future.”
“Until now, Sorrento Networks’ customers have been in a state of flux, with no vendor to service their existing telecoms infrastructure,” remarked Askar Sheibani, CEO and founder of Comtek. “We have a history of giving customers a viable alternative to rip-and-replace when their supplier has folded, and we intend to use the unrivalled expertise of our engineering team to ensure this isn’t the only option available to Sorrento Networks’ customers. The acquisition represents yet another chapter for Comtek in extending the lifespan of telecoms infrastructures, protecting customers’ investments and eliminating the threat of having to overhaul entire networks.”
About Comtek
Comtek is Europe’s fastest growing multi-vendor telecoms and communications equipment repair and support service, extending the working life of customer’s equipment. Repairing, rather than replacing faulty hardware provides customers with significant financial savings and helps decrease the environmental impact of electronic products.
Comtek is headquartered in the UK, with additional repair centres in Holland and Germany. The company was formed in 1989 and has around 150 highly-skilled employees. Approximately 80 percent of the company’s business is tier 1 network operators and system vendors.
Comtek also provides Third-Party Return Material Advice (RMA) services to a number of well-known international IT equipment manufacturers. The organisation is ISO 14000 and ISO 9001 compliant and has the distinction of being Britain’s only ISO 9001 certified Third-Party RMA Services provider.
