Fore snaps up Irish telecomms software firm

US networking company FORE Systems has acquired Dublin-based Euristix Limited for $81 million. Under the terms of the agreement, FORE has issued five million shares and stock options in exchange for the outstanding shares and stock options of Euristix. The deal combines Euristix and FORE's scalable Internet backbone switches. Executives at both companies agree that the deal should help develop a range of new products including intelligent networking and voice over IP. Thomas J Gill, president and CEO of FORE Systems, said: "The acquisition of Euristix is a powerful statement about FORE Systems' commitment to our existing and future service provider customers. "With the addition of Euristix, we are now positioned to deliver the best software for the provisioning of advanced data, voice and video services in the new public network." Euristix is a privately owned company and employs 150 people in Dublin and California. ®