<PAGE>

        As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 14, 1999
                                                   Registration No. 333-_______
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                      SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                            Washington, D.C. 20549
                               ________________

                                   FORM S-8

                            REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                     under
                          THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
                               ________________

                              Vertel Corporation
            (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

<TABLE>
<S>                                                 <C>
               California                                             95-3948704
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or          (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
              Organization)
</TABLE>

                      21300 Victory Boulevard, Suite 1200
                           Woodland Hills, CA  91367
                   (Address of Principal Executive Offices)
                            _______________________


                       1996 Directors' Stock Option Plan
                           (Full Title of the Plan)
                            _______________________

                                  Bruce Brown
                     President and Chief Executive Officer
                              Vertel Corporation
                      21300 Victory Boulevard, Suite 1200
                           Woodland Hills, CA  91367
                                (818) 227-1400
(Name, Address and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent For Service)
                            _______________________

                                   Copy to:

                                 David J. Katz
                       Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP
                         11377 West Olympic Boulevard
                      Los Angeles, California 90064-1683
                                (310) 312-3267



              (Calculation of registration fee on following page)
<PAGE>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                   Proposed           Proposed
                                                                   Maximum            Maximum
                                             Maximum Amount to     Offering Price     Aggregate               Amount of
Title of Securities to be Registered         be Registered (1)     Per Share (3)      Offering Price (3)      Registration Fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<S>                                          <C>                   <C>                <C>                    <C>
1996 Directors' Stock Option Plan
  Common Stock,
  $0.01 par value...................         200,000 shares (2)     2.02              $404,000                $112.31
</TABLE>

_______________________
(1)       This Registration Statement shall also cover any additional shares of
          Common Stock which become issuable under the 1996 Directors' Stock
          Option Plan by reason of any stock dividend, stock split,
          recapitalization or any other similar transaction effected without the
          receipt of consideration which results in an increase in the number of
          Registrant's outstanding shares of Common Stock.

(2)       This is the increase in number of shares which may be issued under the
          1996 Directors' Stock Option Plan which was approved at the 1999
          Annual Meeting of Shareholders held on May 13, 1999. 360,000 shares
          issuable under the 1996 Directors' Stock Option Plan have previously
          been registered under the Securities Act of 1933.

(3)       Computed in accordance with Rule 457(h) under the Securities Act of
          1933 solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee, and
          based on the average of the high and low prices of the Common Stock as
          reported on the NASDAQ National Market on October 12, 1999.

                                    PART II

              INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3.   Incorporation of Documents by Reference.
          ---------------------------------------

          The following documents filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the "Commission") are incorporated by reference:

          (a) Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 1998;

          (b) Registrant's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended
March 31, 1999 and June 30, 1999;

          (c) all other reports filed by Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a)
or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") since
December 31, 1998; and

          (d) the description of Registrant's Common Stock contained in
Registrant's Registration Statement on Form 8-A12G filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "Commission") on April 30, 1997 (under Registrant's
prior name "Retix"), including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of
updating such description.

          All documents subsequently filed by Registrant pursuant to Sections
13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act prior to the filing of a post-
effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been
sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall also be
deemed to be incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement and to be
part hereof from the date of filing such documents.

                                       2
<PAGE>

Item 4.   Description of Securities.
          -------------------------

          Not applicable.

Item 5.   Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.
          --------------------------------------

          None.

Item 6.   Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
          -----------------------------------------

          Section 317 of the California Corporations Code authorizes a court to
award, or a corporation's Board of Directors to grant, indemnity to directors
and officers in terms sufficiently broad to permit such indemnification under
certain circumstances for liabilities (including reimbursement for expenses
incurred) arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities
Act").  Registrant's Articles of Incorporation reduce the liability of a
director to the corporation or its shareholders for monetary damages to the
fullest extent permissible under California law, and authorize Registrant to
indemnify its officers and directors (and other agents) to the maximum extent
permitted under California law.  Registrant's Bylaws provide that it shall
indemnify its directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by
California law, including circumstances in which indemnification is otherwise
discretionary under California law. Registrant has entered into indemnification
agreements with its officers and directors containing provisions that are in
some respects broader than the specific indemnification provisions contained in
the California Corporations Code.

Item 7.   Exemption from Registration Claimed.
          ------------------------------------

          Not applicable.

Item 8.   Exhibits.
          --------

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                    Exhibit
                    Number
                    -------
                    <S>                      <C>
                    5.1                      Opinion of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP.
                    23.1                     Consent of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP (included in Exhibit 5.1).
                    23.2                     Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP.
                    24.1                     Powers of Attorney.
</TABLE>

Item 9.   Undertakings.
          ------------

     (a) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

     (1) to file, during any period in which offers or sales of the securities
registered hereby are being made, a post-effective amendment to this
registration statement:

          (A) to include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the
     Securities Act of 1933;

          (B) to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the
     effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-
     effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate,
     represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the
     registration statement.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or
     decrease in volume of securities offered (if the dollar value of securities
     offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from
     the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be
     reflected in the form of  prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to
     Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent
     no

                                       3
<PAGE>

     more than a 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth
     in the "Calculation of Registration Fee" table in the effective
     registration statement;

          (C) to include any material information with respect to the plan of
     distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any
     material change to such information in the registration statement;
     provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(A) and (a)(1)(B) do not apply if
     the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by
     those paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed with or furnished
     to the Commission by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
     Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in the
     registration statement.

     (2) that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities
Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration
statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such
securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering
thereof.

     (3) to remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any
of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the
offering.

     (b) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the
Registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that is incorporated by reference in the
registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement
relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities
at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

     (c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities
Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of
the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the
Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange
Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act
and is, therefore, unenforceable.  In the event that a claim for indemnification
against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses
incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant
in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such
director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being
registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter
has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate
jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public
policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of
such issue.

                                       4
<PAGE>

                                   SIGNATURES


     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant
certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the
requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration
statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in the City of Woodland Hills, State of California, on this 1st day
of October, 1999.


                              VERTEL CORPORATION


                              By:  /s/ Bruce Brown
                                   -------------------------------------------
                                   Bruce Brown
                                   President and Chief Executive Officer

                                       5
<PAGE>

                               POWER OF ATTORNEY

     KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature
appears below constitutes and appoints Bruce Brown and Gordon Almquist, and
either of them, his or her attorneys-in-fact and agents, each with the power of
substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place or
stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any amendments to this Registration
Statement on Form S-8, and to file such amendments, together with exhibits and
other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, granting to each attorney-in-fact and agent, full power and
authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary
to be done in and about the premises, as fully as he or she might or could do in
person, and ratifying and confirming all that the attorneys-in-fact and agents,
or his or her substitute or substitutes, may do or cause to be done by virtue
hereof.

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this
registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities and on the dates indicated.

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Signature                              Title                                         Date
---------                              -----                                         ----
<S>                                    <C>                                           <C>
/s/ Bruce Brown                        President, Chief Executive Officer and        October 1, 1999
------------------------------------   Director
Bruce Brown

/s/ Gordon Almquist                    Vice President of Finance and                 October 1, 1999
-------------------------------------   Administration and Chief Financial Officer
Gordon Almquist

/s/ Jeffrey M. Drazan                  Director                                      October 1, 1999
-------------------------------------
Jeffrey M. Drazan

/s/ Ralph Ungermann                    Director                                      October 1, 1999
-------------------------------------
Ralph Ungermann

/s/ Howard Oringer                     Director                                      October 1, 1999
-------------------------------------
Howard Oringer

/s/ Jack Reily                         Director                                      October 1, 1999
-------------------------------------
Jack Reily
</TABLE>

                                       6
<PAGE>

                               INDEX TO EXHIBITS


Exhibit                                                             Page
Number         Description of Exhibit                                No.
------         ----------------------                               ----

5.1            Opinion of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP

23.1           Consent of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP
               (included in Exhibit 5.1).

23.2           Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP.

24.1           Powers of Attorney.

                                       7
[{"type": "S-8", "sequence": "1", "description": "FORM S-8", "secsgml_size_bytes": 16466}]
{"company-data": {"conformed-name": "VERTEL CORP", "cik": "0000880458", "assigned-sic": "3576", "irs-number": "953948704", "state-of-incorporation": "CA", "fiscal-year-end": "1231"}, "filing-values": {"form-type": "S-8", "act": "33", "file-number": "333-89057", "film-number": "99728547"}, "business-address": {"street1": "21300 VICTORY BLVD", "street2": "#1200", "city": "WOODLAND HILLS", "state": "CA", "zip": "91367", "phone": "8182271400"}, "mail-address": {"street1": "21300 VICTORY BLVD", "street2": "#1200", "city": "WOODLAND HILLS", "state": "CA", "zip": "91367"}, "former-company": {"former-conformed-name": "RETIX", "date-changed": "19930113"}}
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 14, 1999
                                                   Registration No. 333-_______
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                      SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                            Washington, D.C. 20549
                               ________________

                                   FORM S-8

                            REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                     under
                          THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
                               ________________

                              Vertel Corporation
            (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
California                                             95-3948704
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or          (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
              Organization)
21300 Victory Boulevard, Suite 1200
                           Woodland Hills, CA  91367
                   (Address of Principal Executive Offices)
                            _______________________

                       1996 Directors' Stock Option Plan
                           (Full Title of the Plan)
                            _______________________

                                  Bruce Brown
                     President and Chief Executive Officer
                              Vertel Corporation
                      21300 Victory Boulevard, Suite 1200
                           Woodland Hills, CA  91367
                                (818) 227-1400
(Name, Address and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent For Service)
                            _______________________

                                   Copy to:

                                 David J. Katz
                       Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP
                         11377 West Olympic Boulevard
                      Los Angeles, California 90064-1683
                                (310) 312-3267

              (Calculation of registration fee on following page)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposed           Proposed
                                                                   Maximum            Maximum
                                             Maximum Amount to     Offering Price     Aggregate               Amount of
Title of Securities to be Registered         be Registered (1)     Per Share (3)      Offering Price (3)      Registration Fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1996 Directors' Stock Option Plan
  Common Stock,
  $0.01 par value...................         200,000 shares (2)     2.02              $404,000                $112.31
_______________________
(1)       This Registration Statement shall also cover any additional shares of
          Common Stock which become issuable under the 1996 Directors' Stock
          Option Plan by reason of any stock dividend, stock split,
          recapitalization or any other similar transaction effected without the
          receipt of consideration which results in an increase in the number of
          Registrant's outstanding shares of Common Stock.

(2)       This is the increase in number of shares which may be issued under the
          1996 Directors' Stock Option Plan which was approved at the 1999
          Annual Meeting of Shareholders held on May 13, 1999. 360,000 shares
          issuable under the 1996 Directors' Stock Option Plan have previously
          been registered under the Securities Act of 1933.

(3)       Computed in accordance with Rule 457(h) under the Securities Act of
          1933 solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee, and
          based on the average of the high and low prices of the Common Stock as
          reported on the NASDAQ National Market on October 12, 1999.

                                    PART II

              INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3.   Incorporation of Documents by Reference.
          ---------------------------------------

          The following documents filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the "Commission") are incorporated by reference:

          (a) Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 1998;

          (b) Registrant's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended
March 31, 1999 and June 30, 1999;

          (c) all other reports filed by Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a)
or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") since
December 31, 1998; and

          (d) the description of Registrant's Common Stock contained in
Registrant's Registration Statement on Form 8-A12G filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "Commission") on April 30, 1997 (under Registrant's
prior name "Retix"), including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of
updating such description.

          All documents subsequently filed by Registrant pursuant to Sections
13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act prior to the filing of a post-
effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been
sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall also be
deemed to be incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement and to be
part hereof from the date of filing such documents.

                                       2
Item 4.   Description of Securities.
          -------------------------

          Not applicable.

Item 5.   Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.
          --------------------------------------

          None.

Item 6.   Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
          -----------------------------------------

          Section 317 of the California Corporations Code authorizes a court to
award, or a corporation's Board of Directors to grant, indemnity to directors
and officers in terms sufficiently broad to permit such indemnification under
certain circumstances for liabilities (including reimbursement for expenses
incurred) arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities
Act").  Registrant's Articles of Incorporation reduce the liability of a
director to the corporation or its shareholders for monetary damages to the
fullest extent permissible under California law, and authorize Registrant to
indemnify its officers and directors (and other agents) to the maximum extent
permitted under California law.  Registrant's Bylaws provide that it shall
indemnify its directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by
California law, including circumstances in which indemnification is otherwise
discretionary under California law. Registrant has entered into indemnification
agreements with its officers and directors containing provisions that are in
some respects broader than the specific indemnification provisions contained in
the California Corporations Code.

Item 7.   Exemption from Registration Claimed.
          ------------------------------------

          Not applicable.

Item 8.   Exhibits.
          --------
Exhibit
                    Number
                    -------
5.1                      Opinion of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP.
                    23.1                     Consent of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP (included in Exhibit 5.1).
                    23.2                     Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP.
                    24.1                     Powers of Attorney.
Item 9.   Undertakings.
          ------------

     (a) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

     (1) to file, during any period in which offers or sales of the securities
registered hereby are being made, a post-effective amendment to this
registration statement:

          (A) to include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the
     Securities Act of 1933;

          (B) to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the
     effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-
     effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate,
     represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the
     registration statement.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or
     decrease in volume of securities offered (if the dollar value of securities
     offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from
     the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be
     reflected in the form of  prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to
     Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent
     no

                                       3
more than a 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth
     in the "Calculation of Registration Fee" table in the effective
     registration statement;

          (C) to include any material information with respect to the plan of
     distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any
     material change to such information in the registration statement;
     provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(A) and (a)(1)(B) do not apply if
     the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by
     those paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed with or furnished
     to the Commission by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
     Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in the
     registration statement.

     (2) that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities
Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration
statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such
securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering
thereof.

     (3) to remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any
of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the
offering.

     (b) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the
Registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that is incorporated by reference in the
registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement
relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities
at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

     (c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities
Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of
the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the
Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange
Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act
and is, therefore, unenforceable.  In the event that a claim for indemnification
against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses
incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant
in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such
director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being
registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter
has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate
jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public
policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of
such issue.

                                       4
SIGNATURES

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant
certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the
requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration
statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in the City of Woodland Hills, State of California, on this 1st day
of October, 1999.

                              VERTEL CORPORATION

                              By:  /s/ Bruce Brown
                                   -------------------------------------------
                                   Bruce Brown
                                   President and Chief Executive Officer

                                       5
POWER OF ATTORNEY

     KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature
appears below constitutes and appoints Bruce Brown and Gordon Almquist, and
either of them, his or her attorneys-in-fact and agents, each with the power of
substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place or
stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any amendments to this Registration
Statement on Form S-8, and to file such amendments, together with exhibits and
other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, granting to each attorney-in-fact and agent, full power and
authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary
to be done in and about the premises, as fully as he or she might or could do in
person, and ratifying and confirming all that the attorneys-in-fact and agents,
or his or her substitute or substitutes, may do or cause to be done by virtue
hereof.

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this
registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities and on the dates indicated.
Signature                              Title                                         Date
---------                              -----                                         ----
/s/ Bruce Brown                        President, Chief Executive Officer and        October 1, 1999
------------------------------------   Director
Bruce Brown

/s/ Gordon Almquist                    Vice President of Finance and                 October 1, 1999
-------------------------------------   Administration and Chief Financial Officer
Gordon Almquist

/s/ Jeffrey M. Drazan                  Director                                      October 1, 1999
-------------------------------------
Jeffrey M. Drazan

/s/ Ralph Ungermann                    Director                                      October 1, 1999
-------------------------------------
Ralph Ungermann

/s/ Howard Oringer                     Director                                      October 1, 1999
-------------------------------------
Howard Oringer

/s/ Jack Reily                         Director                                      October 1, 1999
-------------------------------------
Jack Reily
6
INDEX TO EXHIBITS

Exhibit                                                             Page
Number         Description of Exhibit                                No.
------         ----------------------                               ----

5.1            Opinion of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP

23.1           Consent of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP
               (included in Exhibit 5.1).

23.2           Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP.

24.1           Powers of Attorney.

                                       7