Tekelec, Cisco to Collaborate on Networking

Tekelec Inc. said it will work with Internet equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. to help telephone companies move their voice traffic to next-generation networks.

The news sent the company’s stock surging to close up $6.97 to $43.38 on Nasdaq. Earlier in the day, the shares rose as high as $45.38. They have risen sevenfold from a year low of $6.50.

Calabasas-based Tekelec said it and Cisco will collaborate to make its IP7 secure gateway product work better with Cisco’s routers and switches, which carry data and voice across telephone and computer networks and the Internet.

“By supporting an open network architecture, we are able to deliver solutions today that allow our customers to extend the capabilities of their traditional voice networks as they support and deploy the emerging technologies,” Mike Margolis, Tekelec’s president and chief executive, said in a prepared statement.

By combining products using Tekelec technology, it will also make easier the delivery of services such as toll-free numbers, caller identification and local number portability on new networks, Tekelec said.

Cisco, Lucent Technologies Inc., Nortel Networks Corp. and others are in an increasingly pitched battle to emerge as top dog in selling next-generation networking gear to telephone and cable companies and Internet service providers.

Cisco rose $14.69 to close at $138.63 on Nasdaq.