NetScout to acquire Network General for $205 million

NetScout Systems plans to spend about $205 million in cash, stock and debt to acquire competing and complementary network service assurance vendor Network General.

The newly merged company will approximately double NetScout’s current revenue rate in 2009 and further NetScout’s “vision of providing superior network-based performance management based on a KPI (key performance indicator) Flow/Packet paradigm,” the two companies said in a news release.

The acquisition is also expected to accelerate NetScout’s push into the wireless service provider segment by expanding its real-time monitoring and reporting performance monitoring and troubleshooting offering.

The deal is expected to be completed by early November and is one more sign that the entire telecommunications space is again converging. In this case, the double-sized company hopes to compete more effectively against bigger vendors in the wireless space, pitting real-time monitoring and reporting against established deep packet inspection techniques.

Source: http://www.telecommagazine.com/newsglobe/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_3488