Citrix buys audio-conferencing firm

Application delivery vendor splashes out up to $34m on Vapps

Application delivery vendor Citrix has announced it has bought audio-conferencing specialist Vapps for a cash sum of $26.6m (£18m).

Continued good performance from Vapps could net it an extra $4.4m payment and the deal could be worth up to $34m after various options are included. Vapps was founded in 2002 and specialises in managed audio conferencing products aimed at the SME, enterprise and service provider markets. It is based in New Jersey, has about 18 staff and its largest backer was Azure Capital Partners.

The Vapps deal is the latest in what has been a fruitful year for Azure. Online and phone payment specialist Bill Me Later was bought last month by eBay for $945m. In January Carrier Ethernet specialist Worldwide Packets was snapped up by Ciena for $300m.

Azure partner Paul Weinstein told VentureBeat: "Despite the economic situation, we know there are a lot of big companies out there with cash and they will probably want to use it to buy future growth.”