Citel, the vendor of line-side gateways has gone public in the UK.
Raising $15 million on the sale of stock to institutional investors on the AIM (Advanced Investment Market) in London, the company has developed a meaningful story and partnership environment. They have OEM relationships with Alcatel, Avaya, Ericsson, Mitel, NEC and 3Com AND Centrex relationships with Bell Canada, ATT, BT and many other well known service providers… where they allow enterprise customers to keep their legacy handsets — something estimated as $100 billion investment over the years.
ANECDOTE: I remember noticing that with the 3Com gateway, they could actually make two users, one on a Meridian handset and the other on a Norstar handset, operate on the same system. Something that the manufacturer wouldn't or couldn't do.
