BroadSoft-Sylantro: 6 months later

BroadSoft's December 2008 acquisition of fellow VoIP application server company Sylantro gave BroadSoft an even more commanding lead in market share in the space. But integrating another unique company into the buyer's corporate culture can be quite a challenge, so, six months after the formal announcement, here's a look at how the integration has progressed.

In the first quarter, BroadSoft's executive team spent a lot of time on the road talking with Sylantro and BroadSoft customers alike about the implications of the buy, according to Leslie Ferry, vice president of marketing for BroadSoft. But Ferry said the integration of the back office systems and personnel is now complete, and BroadSoft's customers have benefited from the product set and engineering muscle BroadSoft picked up from Sylantro.

"The integration of talent has gone incredibly smoothly, and we knew from due diligence and competing with them that they had a good product and smart, talented people working on it," Ferry said. "It's always a challenge when you integrate two companies, but we've been more than pleased with the results."

Ferry said the integration went smoothly because Sylantro had a similar culture of innovation and research. She also noted that "getting out the message" to Sylantro customers about the level of support they would receive from BroadSoft was the major challenge in the integration.

Ferry said portions of Sylantro's Synergy platform are being integrated into the BroadWorks offering, and portions of Sylantro's web-based client SynApps are also being evaluated for eventual inclusion in BroadSoft's products.