Nortel's Carling Avenue campus (Photo by Darren Brown, OBJ)

Nortel on Wednesday announced its purchase of Pingtel Corp., a U.S.-based designer of software-based unified communications solutions owned by Bluesocket Inc., for an undisclosed amount.

According to the Canadian telecom company, Pingtel will provide new software capabilities to Toronto-based Nortel's enterprise unified communications portfolio, along with additional research and development capabilities.

The transaction brings Pingtel's existing original equipment manufacturer (OEM) relationship with Nortel in-house, and Nortel confirmed that Pingtel employees will be integrated into Nortel's Billerica, Mass. facilities.

"This acquisition is another building block in Nortel's vision to be a software-centric company and the leading provider of unified communications solutions," said David Downing, general manager of enterprise and SMB (small-to-medium business) communications systems at Nortel, in a statement. "We believe that bringing Pingtel's critical R&D capabilities in-house will enable us to further develop software-based solutions that go beyond the boundaries of our previous OEM relationship.

"We expect that this will enable Nortel to accelerate the development of new IT-centric channels to market."

In the near term, the company said Pingtel will bring critical software elements to Nortel's SMB unified communications solutions based on the Nortel Software Communication System 500 (SCS500). Pingtel will also bring intellectual property, R&D capabilities and its senior management to Nortel.

There was no indication whether the acquisition will affect any of Nortel's Ottawa facilities.