2008 VoIP best buy of the year

GENBAND grabbing NextPoint 

Why:  GENBAND wanted SBC and DPI technology. NextPoint was the largest non-public company available in the SBC space. The only open question is if GENBAND paid list price or a discount. Over the summer, it was obvious to everyone that NextPoint was on the block, but was NextPoint's technology portfolio original enough to pull top dollar?

Runner-up: Citrix Systems buying Vapps 

Why: Looks like a win-win for everyone. Citrix gets a managed, HD voice conferencing service, so they get both managed services (more revenue) and HD technology (wave of the future); Vapps also supports Skype - the Apple Mac of VoIP technology. Citrix can meld Vapps's service into its existing GoToMeetings.com service. Vapps gets $26.6 million, plus another $4.4 million in earnouts if it hits its goals. And venture investor Azure Capital Partners gets a 3.6 times return on the investment it made 18 months ago, which will be important given the present financial situation.  

Runner-up: EXFO buys Brix Networks 

Brix just made good stuff, which is never a bad sign for an acquisition.

Runner-up:  Dialogic acquiring NMS Communications 

Why: We didn't see it coming, but it makes a lot of sense. Dialogic gets a solid foothold into the mobile space and can put its video technology onto NMS hardware with a quicker time to market, and Dialogic also gains the ability to leverage NMS's existing customer relationships in the mobile space. It also liberates fast-growing, services-oriented LiveWire Mobile out of the (legacy) hardware business.