Ribbon Communications announced the appointment of Bruce McClelland as its President, Chief Executive Officer and a director. McClelland previously served as CEO of ARRIS International plc, where he most recently led the sale of ARRIS to CommScope for $7.4 billion in April 2019. While at ARRIS, Mr. McClelland managed the successful acquisition and integration of the Ruckus Wireless and Brocade ICX Campus switching businesses from Broadcom Inc., a major step in diversifying the ARRIS business beyond the service provider market into the broader enterprise market, while strengthening the company’s wireless technology capabilities.
Mr. McClelland said, “I am honored to lead the Ribbon team during this exciting time in the Company’s history with the transformational merger with ECI on the near-term horizon. I look forward to bringing my knowledge and expertise to the combined company, working closely with the Ribbon Board and executive management team to create a premier workplace and winning culture for our employees while driving long-term value for our customers and stockholders.”
Ribbon also announced the appointment of Stewart Ewing and Krish Prabhu to its Board of Directors. Ewing most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of CenturyLink, Inc. He joined CenturyLink as its Vice President of Finance in 1983 and assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer in 1989. During his 28 years as CFO, he played a significant role in CenturyLink’s acquisition strategy, negotiating all stages of purchase agreements, legal and regulatory matters and integrating the acquired companies into CenturyLink’s corporate structure and philosophy.
Prabhu most recently was Chief Technology Officer and President of AT&T Labs. During his tenure, he was responsible for the company’s global technology direction, including network innovation, product development and research, intellectual property organization and global supply chain organization. Prior to this, Mr. Prabhu served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Tellabs. Earlier in his career, he held various leadership positions at Alcatel.
Ribbon to acquire ECI , expanding from voice to optical, SDN, NFV
Ribbon Communications agreed to acquire ECI Telecom Group for 32.5 million shares of Ribbon common stock and $324 million of cash. ECI stockholders will also receive approximately $31 million from ECI’s sale of real estate assets. This
ECI is a global provider of end-to-end packet-optical transport and SDN/NFV solutions for service providers, enterprises, and data center operators. The privately held company was founded in 1961, currently has approximately 1,700 employees, and is headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel. ECI serves over 300 global customers with over 100 new customer wins in the last three years. ECI’s total revenue was $376 million and Adjusted EBITDA was $23 million for the twelve months ended September 30, 20193.
The companies said their merger will create a powerful, leading-edge solutions provider with anticipated combined annual revenue of over $900 million, serving customers in more than 140 countries, and 4,000 employees worldwide. Ribbon expects the combination to position the company for growth by expanding its product portfolio beyond solutions primarily supporting voice applications to include data applications and optical networking.
Ribbon’s corporate headquarters is expected to remain in Westford, Massachusetts.
