Tekelec

Infobox_Company | company_name = Tekelec

company_

company_type = Public (NASDAQ: [http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/SummaryQuote.asp?symbol=TKLC&selected=TKLC TKLC] )

company_slogan = for what's next

industry = telecommunication-equipment manufacturing

foundation = Calabasas, California (1979)

location = Morrisville, North Carolina

key_people = Jean-Claude Asscher, Chairman
Franco (Frank) Plastina, President, CEO
William H. Everett, CFO
Ronald J. de Lange, Executive Vice President
Stuart H. Kupinsky, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs and General Counsel
David K. Rice, Senior Vice President, Operations
Wolrad Claudy, Senior Vice President, Global Sales
Gregory S. Rush, Vice President, Corporate Controller & Chief Accounting Officer
Marykay Wells, Vice President, Information Technology & Chief Information Officer

num_employees = 950 (2008)

products = http://www.tekelec.com/products-&-solutions/

homepage = [http://www.tekelec.com/ www.tekelec.com]

Tekelec, Inc. is a US company (NASDAQ: [http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/SummaryQuote.asp?symbol=TKLC&selected=TKLC TKLC] ), founded 1979 in California, but now headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina. Tekelec’s carrier-grade network solutions enable the delivery of calls and text messages for more than one billion mobile and fixed-line subscribers.

Primary products

Tekelec's network signaling products help direct and control voice and data communications. They enable carriers to control, establish and terminate calls. They also enable carriers to offer intelligent services, which include any services other than the call or data transmission itself. Examples include familiar products such as call waiting, caller ID, voice messaging, toll free calls (e.g., telephone calls to telephone numbers with 800/888/877/866 area codes in North America), prepaid calling cards, text messaging and local number portability. Some of Tekelec's network signaling products also allow the monitoring and surveillance of network elements while the network is in operation and deliver revenue assurance features such as fraud protection.

Corporate history

Jean-Claude Asscher

In 1961, Jean-Claude Asscher founded Tekelec-Airtronic, SA, a French electronics company with emphasis on the aviation industry. Jean-Claude Asscher serves as the president and chairman of the board of directors of as Tekelec-Airtronic, SA. Jean-Claude Asscher of France and Edouard Givel of Switzerland have what is considered by the Securities and Exchange Commission of the USA to have a group member interest in the ownership of all of Tekelec-Airtronic, SA (a French corporation), Tekelec, Inc. (a US corporation), Tekelec F (a French corporation), and Natinco SA (a Luxembourg corporation) [http://www.secinfo.com/$/SEC/Name.asp?M=tekelec-airtronic,+s.a. Secinfo.com] as well as Tekelec-Airtronic, NV (a Netherlands corporation) and Tekelec-Airtronic GmBH (a German corporation).

In 1979, Jean-Claude Asscher founded Tekelec, Inc. as a North American company specializing in telecommunications products, such as telecommunications test equipment initially. Tekelec, Inc. is not now and has never been a subsidiary of Tekelec-Airtronic, SA, but Tekelec, Inc. was initially financed by proceeds earned by Jean-Claude Asscher through Tekelec-Airtronic, SA. Greater than 5% of Tekelec, Inc. is owned by Tekelec F, a corporation whose shares are owned by Jean-Claude Asscher and his wife Muriel Asscher as well as by Edouard Givel. [http://www.secinfo.com/$/SEC/Filings.asp?As=M&Name=ftekelec&Find=Tekelec+F]

For many years, Jean-Claude Asscher was president, CEO, and chairman of the board of directors of both Tekelec-Airtronic, SA and Tekelec, Inc. In recent years Jean-Claude Asscher has served as only chairman of Tekelec, Inc.'s board of directors while continuing to be the president of Tekelec-Airtronic, SA's board of directors as well as its chairman. Jean-Claude Asscher also serves as the chairman of the board of directors for TraceSpan and the chairman of the board of directors for Ixia. [http://www.tracespan.com/1_2management.html#jean]

Franco (Frank) Plastina

Mr. Plastina joined Tekelec as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director in February, 2006. From September 2005 until joining our Company and from March 2003 until joining Proxim Corporation in May 2003, Mr. Plastina served as Executive in Residence at Warburg Pincus LLC, a private equity firm. From May 2003 until July 2005, he held various executive positions with Proxim Corporation, a provider of wireless infrastructure equipment for wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, and wireless broadband markets, including Executive Chairman from January 2005 until July 2005 and President and Chief Executive Officer and a director from May 2003 until December 2004. In June 2005, Proxim Corporation filed a voluntary petition for relief under the reorganization provisions of Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Mr. Plastina is also a director of Cree, Inc.

Acquisitions

August 3, 2005 Tekelec purchased German and Czech-based iptelorg GmbH, developer of leading-edge Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) routing software, securing a critical IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) capability for Tekelec. February 5, 2008, Tekelec acquired substantially all of the assets of Estacado Systems, LLC, a software development company led by a team that has been instrumental in the creation of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and a number of its advanced features.

Estacado Systems was established in 2004 by a team of SIP pioneers including Ajay Deo, Ben Campbell, Adam Roach and Robert Sparks. This team continues to serve on the SIP Forum and chair several Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working groups, along with authoring over 20 Requests for Comment (RFCs). Their level of experience includes SIMPLE-based presence and instant messaging and broadband VoIP networking.

References

http://www.tekelec.com/about-tekelec/
http://www.tekelec.com/news-&-events/?prID=724
http://www.tekelec.com/news-&-events/?prID=543
http://www.tekelec.com/about-tekelec/?p=board