Cisco, Net2Phone sign deal to form new company

NEW YORK: Cisco Systems Inc., the world's biggest maker of computer networking equipment, and Net2Phone Inc. signed a deal to form a new Internet telephony gateways company, Dow Jones News Service reported on Friday. The new company is to be called ADIR Technologies, the report, citing an unidentified source, said.

A spokesman at Net2Phone declined to comment on the report. A Cisco representative was not immediately available to provide comment. Earlier this year, long-distance telephone giant AT&T Corp. signed a deal to buy a stake in Net2Phone from majority shareholder IDT Corporation

Shares of Net2Phone, the leading provider of voice calls routed over Internet infrastructure, were trading at $36-11/16 in after hours trading on Instinet electronic brokerage, up from their close of $33-13/16 on the Nasdaq stock market. Cisco was trading at $62-3/8 on Instinet after closing at $62-3/4 on Nasdaq.

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