Throughout the incredible journey of the telecom OSS/BSS sector over
the last 10 years, VanillaPlus has remained a reliable source of both key
news but also informative, objective and thought-provoking assessments of
the key trends which have shaped our industry. I am looking forward to
VanillaPlus and their more recent Stream journal continuing to play a key
role in providing valuable insights as we enter one of the most exciting
phases of the telecoms OSS/BSS market evolutions.
Kieran Moynihan
Vice President & CTO Telecoms
IBM Tivoli Division
Company News
EXCLUSIVE: Ericsson & LHS explain merger plans
In an exclusive interview with VanillaPlus magazine (Feb 2008 issue),
Jan Wäreby, head of Ericsson's Business Unit Multimedia and Wolfgang
Kroh, CEO of LHS have described the reasons behind the Swedish giant's
surprise acquisition of LHS, a leading billing and customer care
systems provider.
VanillaPlus asked: "Why did Ericsson need to acquire LHS and why now?"
"LHS' leading billing and customer care solutions, together with Ericsson's leadership in real-time charging and mediation, make us a leading player in revenue management and strengthen our overall multimedia offering," replied Wäreby. "We feel very strongly that convergent charging and billing solutions with real-time charging capabilities will become a standard requirement for operators to support the products and services that subscribers increasingly expect.
The interview went on to investigate what will now change and how the combination of LHS' billing and customer care solutions with Ericsson's real-time charging and mediation offering will benefit their operator customers?
What, we wondered, has been the response of LHS’ customers, operators and partners?
"The response from our customers has been extremely positive," said Kroh. "I believe most of our customers recognise the expertise and also the stability that a company of Ericsson’s size brings. For our partners that compete with Ericsson, such as the other major network equipment vendors, the news of the acquisition was understandably greeted with caution. However, we have given assurances that LHS and Ericsson are committed to an open approach and that all such partners will be treated fairly and with an even hand. While discussions are still ongoing with some of these partners, we are continuing to engage in new partner projects. By way of example, Alcatel-Lucent has won three new customers for LHS since the announcement of the Ericsson acquisition.
"The response from our integrator partners has also been very positive. They recognise the additional growth and number of projects that an organisation like Ericsson brings to the table, and wish to participate in the new opportunities and growth that the acquisition will generate," added Kroh.
The two men are well known in the telecoms industry. Jan Wäreby is SVP of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and head of Business Unit Multimedia. From 2002 to 2006, Wäreby was Corporate EVP, and head of Sales & Marketing, for Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and played an integral role in establishing the joint venture.
From 2000 to 2001 Wolfgang Kroh held senior positions at Digiquant Deutschland, in Neu-Isenburg, and subsequently became managing director at EMC² Deutschland. In 2006, he returned to LHS having previously worked there from 1997 to 2000, and was named CEO in July of that year.
BT and Microsoft partner to deliver TV, games and movies through Xbox 360
US-based Microsoft Corporation and the UK’s BT are bringing together the next-gen TV service, BT Vision with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 games and entertainment
system. BT broadband customers will soon be able to receive the best in
high definition gaming, television and movies through an Xbox 360
console, in an “all-in-one entertainment experience”, as the companies
put it.
BT Vision, which is powered by the Microsoft Mediaroom Internet
Protocol TV (IPTV) platform, plans to launch this first-of-its-kind
device and service offering in mid-2008. The partnership will enable any BT Broadband customer to use an Xbox 360 console to access the BT Vision service and its extensive library of
on-demand content, giving instant access to hundreds of movies and
thousands of hours of sporting events, television programming, music videos and other digital content, such as BT Vision Sport’s English FA Premier League football matches. The service will be available to existing and future Xbox 360 console owners.
Xbox LIVE, described as “the largest online social network in the
living room”, will be integrated to provide consumers with a wide range
of community-based features, such as voice chat, sending and receiving
text and voice messages, and accessing Xbox LIVE Marketplace, all while
watching TV. For example, while a TV viewer is enjoying his or her
football game, they can receive a message from a friend inviting them
to join a voice chat, or play a game of their own with FIFA Soccer.
Oracle to acquire BEA for US$8.5bn
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) and BEA Systems (NASDAQ:
BEAS) have agreed that
Oracle will acquire all outstanding shares of BEA for US$19.375 per share in
cash. The offer is valued at approximately $8.5 billion, or $7.2 billion net of
BEA’s cash on hand of $1.3 billion. Oracle was already the world's largest enterprise software company.
As we reported in the January issue of our html newsletter, VanillaPlus Bites (see below for details of FREE Subcriptions), Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said: "The addition of BEA products and
technology will significantly enhance and extend Oracle’s Fusion
middleware software suite. (It) has an open 'hot-pluggable' architecture that
allows customers the option of coupling BEA’s WebLogic Java Server to
virtually all the components of the Fusion software suite. That’s just
one example of how customers can choose among Oracle and BEA middleware
products, knowing that those products will gracefully interoperate and be supported
for years to come.”
Alfred Chuang, BEA’s chairman and CEO, added: “Over
the past several months our Board of Directors, with the assistance of
independent financial
and legal advisors, has reviewed various ways to maximise stockholder value,
including engaging in discussions with third parties about a possible sale of
the company.” Said Chuang:
“This transaction is the culmination of that diligent and thoughtful
process, and we believe it is in the best interests of our shareholders. I am
confident our innovative products, talented employees and worldwide customer
base will be key contributors to the success of the combined company over the
long term. We look forward to working with Oracle toward a successful
completion of the transaction.”
“BEA is a pioneer in
middleware, and this combination recognises the innovation and customer success
the company has achieved. Our joint customers have consistently suggested this
deal for more than three years,” said Oracle president Charles Phillips.
“This transaction will accelerate the adoption of Java-based middleware
technologies and SOA; advance innovation in enterprise applications
infrastructure software; extend our strategic relationships with customers and
partners; and increase our penetration in key regions like China.”
The Board of Directors
of BEA Systems has unanimously approved the transaction. It is anticipated to
close by mid-2008, subject to BEA stockholder approval, certain regulatory
approvals and customary closing conditions.
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Amdocs unifies its m-commerce, search and advertising
Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), a leading provider of customer experience systems, has
introduced the first unified platform for mobile service providers to offer
digital marketplaces connecting advertisers, publishers, merchants and
consumers. Talking to VanillaPlus Magazine at Mobile World Congress in
Barcelona, Spain, Moshe Kamar, general manager of the new Amdocs division
reported that the new platform from its Advertising, Commerce and Entertainment
(ACE) division integrates the Amdocs Search and Digital Advertising system with
the mobile commerce systems of Amdocs Qpass to offer service providers new
business models and revenue streams, such as ad-sponsored content.
The Search and Digital Advertising solution was launched in January as a key
part of the Amdocs Customer Experience Systems (CES) product portfolio. It
leverages service providers’ valuable assets, including subscriber data and
network infrastructure, to provide the end customer with more targeted and
personalised advertising. By combining the solutions with Amdocs Qpass, its
digital commerce offering that has processed nearly one billion transactions
since 2003, service providers can offer consumers a fully personalised
experience with both targeted ads and content recommendations.
Unlike other
siloed platforms, Amdocs’ unified solution enables service providers to support
and offer complex and evolving business models, streamlining processes and
offering consumers exciting new ways of interacting with digital content. For
example, service providers can offer a wide range of purchasing options, from fully
consumer-funded to ad-sponsored content.
Said Kamar: "Four key assets were working in silos; Amdocs Qpass, the
Advertising & Media Division, Search & Digital Advertising, andn Open
Market which allows merchants to distribute digital goods, as well as charging
to the phone bill."
Service providers will also find experienced insight from the Amdocs Consulting
Division to help effectively introduce and optimise the revenue potential of
new services through counsel on process analysis, best practices, partner
assessment and business relationship optimisation, and data analysis.
“Combining our solutions into one ecosystem helps service providers offer a
more cohesive and personalised experience for their customers without heavy
investments in negotiating digital commerce relationships,” said Charles Born,
vice president of corporate communications for Amdocs. “With 25 years of
unmatched expertise in delivering solutions to the world’s leading service
providers and the deep relationships we have with content providers through
Qpass, Amdocs’ comprehensive solution helps service providers quickly establish
themselves in the value chain in the most efficient manner.”stablish themselves in the value chain in the most
'One-stop-shop' optimises Orga Systems' billing and CRM
The launch of a long-term, one-stop-shop initiative to optimise telecom operators' entire
billing and CRM processes has been announced by Orga Systems, a leading provider of convergent real-time billing. This end-to-end solution includes Orga Systems' billing system and
pre-integrated products from worldwide leaders in software for the
IT/billing field.
Pre-integrated for Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) is Selligent's solution. All bill handling requirements are
covered by Group 1 Software. Business Objects takes care of the
reporting demands. WeDo technologies complements the concept in
regards to TAP roaming, and Basset Labs completes the solution package
with interconnect billing. Additional partners will follow soon.
Through the
pre-integration of individual benchmark products, telecom
service providers benefit from an end-to-end solution. Professional services
for consulting, solution design and software integration round off the
package.
Rainer Neumann, CEO of Orga Systems GmbH, said:"With our one-stop-shop solution we offer telecommunication
providers the possibility of covering all areas of the billing chain
with us as a central partner. With the flexibility of the Orga Systems
Convergence Program, we are able to provide end-to-end solutions, or
offer modular solution packages that allow a step-by-step system
integration. With this program, we are taking an innovative approach
that is ready to meet the needs and requirements of the network
operators,"
The program provides network operators with a
complete IT and billing system with what is said to be a unique modular approach. At the heart
of the program is the fully convergent billing system OPSC Gold that is
currently inter alia in successful operation for the Ukrainian provider
"life:)".
Through the program, Orga Systems manages the whole project and thus
becomes the one-stop-shop for telecom providers who are
searching for efficient integration strategies and trying to minimise
the efforts of vendor co-ordination. The core element of the Orga
Systems Convergence Program is an initial requirements analysis, in
which all the requirements for the solution are determined and defined.
This ensures that future requirements are taken into account, but also
that the intended architecture is not over-designed.
This modular pre-integration of third party products, is designed says Orga
Systems to supply solutions that transcend the "one size fits all"
approach offered by some other providers.
New CTO, Asia office and staff for Orga Systems
Ferdinand Herrmann, a telecom system integration specialist at Orga Systems, has been promoted to the post of chief technology officer (CTO). Herrmann takes over from Adnan Yaqub who has played an important role in shaping Orga Systems' direction since 1993. Yaqub will concentrate on research and development of new billing technologies as the Paderborn-based company's new technical director.
The company has also announced the establishment of a new subsidiary office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Orga Systems now has sites at eight locations in 7 countries worldwide, to guarantee the availability of on-site customer support. This brings the total number of staff deployed worldwide by the company to 500 employees.
'The Queen' drops in on telecoms fraud forum
March 31, 2008, Windsor, UK: Delegates attending a recent telecoms fraud forum were astonished when
‘Her Majesty the Queen’ arrived to preside over one of the conference
sessions.
The
event was a user forum for customers of fraud management solution provider,
Neural Technologies (Nt). It was hosted
in Windsor, the home town of Her
Majesty, and Neural Technologies took advantage of
this fact to give the event a royal theme.
Not only did a very convincing look-alike of the Queen attend the event,
but the delegates were also treated to a private evening tour of the State
Apartments at Windsor
Castle.
Delegates
from 18 countries attended the forum, an annual event designed to enable Nt’s
customers to share fraud knowledge, learn
how to achieve the best out of Nt’s Minotaur™ fraud and risk management
solution and to contribute to future product development.
Luke Taylor, commercial director at Neural Technologies stated, “We are
committed to supporting our customers and facilitating information sharing -
this event provides an excellent forum for that purpose. We complement this with online seminars held
on a quarterly basis to ensure that our customers are continually kept
up-to-date on any new product enhancements and fraud trends.”
Comptel buys Axiom Systems to strengthen IP service suite
Comptel
is strengthening its position as a leading provider of fulfilment solutions for
broadband, mobile and next-generation IP networks by acquiring Axiom Systems
(Axiom), a UK-based software product company focusing on broadband fulfilment. The acquisition will help Comptel to capitalise on service providers' growing investments in new IP-based services, like VoIP and IPTV.
Axiom Systems is a
specialist in IP fulfilment with a good market position in Europe as well as key customers in Asia-Pacific. Its net sales last year were £7.8 million (€11.5 million) and the company was
EBITDA negative in 2007. Axiom currently has 87 employees.
The net sales in 2008 are estimated to grow about 15%. Consolidation
of Axiom is estimated to increase Comptel net sales around 10% in 2008. Axiom’s EBITDA
impact to Comptel in 2008 is expected to be neutral before one-off items, which
are estimated to be €1 million.
Mr Sami Erviö, president and CEO of Comptel, commented: “I am
enthusiastic about this acquisition, since now Comptel is uniquely strongly
positioned to support its customers in automating the delivery and management
of new IP-based services like IPTV. With Axiom we are a leading provider of
service fulfilment solutions for fixed, mobile and convergent
operators and service providers. Axiom has excellent IP network competencies
and has proven capabilities for next generation service fulfilment. Together we are well positioned globally
and especially strong in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East. We now have the right
competencies, the leading customers and the presence to gain market share in
the emerging all-IP network based fixed-mobile convergent telecom
industry.”
Comptel Corporation is acquiring Axiom Systems Holdings Ltd for a
cash consideration of £7.0 million (€8.9 million). Comptel Corp pays an additional purchase price if Axiom
Group’s audited net sales in 2008 are more than €13.5 million. The
additional price may vary between £4 million and £16 million. The maximum amount will
be paid if Axiom Group’s audited net sales in 2008 reach €21.6
million. The additional purchase price is comprised of both cash and Comptel
shares.
Axiom Group’s balance sheet will be free of interest-bearing debt
and will have a positive net working capital balance. The acquisition is
financed through Comptel Corporation’s liquid assets and by raising
approximately €5.0 million of debt. If the additional purchase price is
paid, a maximum of 4.8 million new Comptel shares will be issued.
The acquisition is completed on 21 April 2008 from which Axiom Group
will be consolidated. The main selling shareholders are private equity funds
managed by Geocapital Partners, Hg Capital and Axiom’s management.
The annual cost synergies from the transaction are estimated to be €2 million starting from 2009. One-off items of restructuring and integration
costs are estimated to be €1 million in 2008. Furthermore, Comptel expects
revenue synergies to realise 2009 onwards from cross-selling the convergent
dynamic OSS
solution to existing Axiom and Comptel customer bases and by leveraging
Comptel’s stronger market position outside Europe to increase Axiom’s solution
sales. The project for integrating the businesses is estimated to be completed
by the end of 2008.
Gareth Senior, the CEO and CTO of Axiom Systems, will continue in his
role as CEO of Axiom. He has been also nominated as a member of Comptel Group’s Executive Board.
Telcordia appoints Pat Donnelly as VP, India, Service Delivery Solutions
Telcordia has named Pat Donnelly as vice president, India, Service Delivery Solutions to be based in
New Delhi,
India. He assumed charge on May 1, 2008. In this role Pat, formerly a member of VanillaPlus's Editorial Advisory Board, will lead regional
initiatives including working with marquee customers such as IDEA and Tata. He
will also be responsible for driving corporate growth in the rapidly emerging
Indian region.
In
addition, under Pat’s direction, Telcordia will build on its executive
relationships with leaders of Indian carriers, the Indian Telecom Ministry and
Indian R&D organisations, while expanding presence in the technical and
service delivery fields.
Hyper
growth and service differentiation are some of the major initiatives Pat is
addressing with Indian carriers. Applications beyond voice messaging such as
sophisticated content, eCommerce applications, lifestyle enablers and
advertising supported applications will also be part of the agenda Telcordia has
positioned for the Indian market.
Mike Betzer appointed SVP, Relationship Technology Management at Convergys
Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG), a global
specialist in relationship management, has appointed Mike Betzer
as senior vice president, Relationship Technology Management (RTM). He
will report to Dave Dougherty, president and CEO of Convergys.
In this leadership role, Betzer will be responsible for the overall success
and continued growth of RTM. He will oversee the creation of strategic
business plans, delivery of solutions and services to Convergys clients,
implementation of existing technologies into solutions for new industries
and markets, and the development of new Convergys relationship management
solutions such as Convergys' recently announced Multichannel Automation
Solutions portfolio. According to Betzer, this portfolio effectively
combines consulting services, best-of-breed technologies, professional
services, and flexible delivery models across live agent and self-service,
and exemplifies Convergys' unique ability to bring together a comprehensive
set of solutions and services to solve key business challenges for Convergys's
clients.
Betzer brings more than 20 years experience in the RTM space having most
recently held the role of vice president, Customer Relationship Management
Strategy at Oracle. Betzer had overall responsibility for Customer
Relationship Management product strategy for Siebel when it was acquired by
Oracle, and for Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft Enterprise, and Oracle
Fusion product lines.
Enrico Salvatori named SVP and general manager of Qualcomm Europe
Qualcomm Inc (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of
advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, has
promoted Enrico Salvatori to senior vice president and general manager of
Qualcomm Europe. In this role, Salvatori
will have day-to-day responsibility for managing Qualcomm’s business operations
and business development efforts throughout Europe.
“Enrico brings a deep understanding of the European
marketplace and has a demonstrated ability to manage the diverse needs of
Qualcomm’s businesses,” said Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of
Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm Internet Services, MediaFLO Technologies and
Qualcomm Europe. “Enrico has established himself as a leader with exceptional
knowledge of Qualcomm’s chipset business, including its products, strategy and
vision, and he’ll apply this expertise to helping drive our consumer electronics
and services businesses across Europe.”
Salvatori joined Qualcomm in 2002 as senior director of
technical marketing, helping to spearhead Qualcomm’s efforts in Europe. In 2004, he was promoted to vice president of
operations and assumed his current role of vice president and general manager
for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies in 2006.
Amdocs and ECtel launch joint fraud detection and prevention offering
ECtel Ltd, a provider of Integrated Revenue Management™
(IRM™) solutions, has joined forces with Amdocs, a provider of customer experience systems, to deliver a state of
the art fraud detection and prevention system, based on ECtel's fraud prevention product -- FraudView®, and
Amdocs' system integration services.
Communication service
providers continue to be challenged by growing fraud, resulting in revenue loss (see in-depth Fraud Report in VanillaPlus Magazine's June issue).
In addition, fraudulent activities can lead to increased churn as customers seek
providers that can deliver a flawless service experience.
Designed to meet the
needs of wireline, wireless, convergent and next generation service providers,
FraudView is the market’s leading and most comprehensive fraud management
solution. FraudView goes beyond traffic and usage monitoring, allowing advanced
detection of fraudulent activity as part of customer acquisition, credit risk
management and new subscriber evaluation processes.
The Amdocs-ECtel
offering incorporates ECtel’s FraudView and I-Probe™ technology. FraudView
provides comprehensive fraud detection capabilities such as a sophisticated
real-time fraud rules engine, advanced score cards, velocity and collision
engine, subscriber profiling and evaluating capabilities, advanced neural models
and credit limit monitoring. When integrated with I-Probe, FraudView allows
operators to enjoy unbiased and independent probe-based CDR coverage and
real-time collection, with optional call blocking and in-band analysis. This
provides customers with superior capabilities for real-time monitoring and
preventing fraud.
"The joint offering
from Amdocs and ECtel combines ECtel’s state of the art products with Amdocs’
unrivalled delivery track record and deep knowledge of the service provider’s
operational systems environment and business processes,” said Itzik Weinstein, president and CEO of
ECtel. “This combination creates one of the leading fraud solutions available
for service providers today, providing the best software out there while
ensuring it can be deployed at low risk and cost-efficiently.”
Winners of World BSS Awards announced in Amsterdam
The Judges announced their decision on the companies and projects selected as
Winners for each of the World BSS Awards at the BIMS 2008 Gala Diamond Drinks
Reception in Amsterdam on June 10, 2008.
The World BSS Awards help raise awareness of the significance of billing and
information management systems and processes to the communications industry,
identifying key trends and rewarding BSS best practice. They are widely regarded
as the highest industry recognition of BSS excellence. Launched in 1997, this
will be the 12th year that these important awards will be presented.
The Judges for this year's World BSS Awards are:
- Anil Prakash - President, Telecom User Group Of India
- Barbara Lancaster - President, LTC
International
- Chris Sanders - Partner, Business Change
Partners
- Hugh Roberts (Chair) - Consultant Director, BSS/OSS &
RM Events, IIR Telecoms, &
Senior Strategist, Patni Telecoms Consulting
- Olga Botero - CIO, Bancolombia
- Peter Smith - Director of Information Technology, Hong Kong
CSL
- Teresa Cottam - Prinicipal Telecoms Analyst, Analysys
Mason
The World BSS Awards Winners are as follows:
1. Overall - Best Contribution to BSS(Open Category) - The
organisation which has had the largest impact on the BSS landscape over the past
year
Winner: LHS
Runner Up: Amdocs
Other
Finalists:
- Comverse
- Intec Systems
- MetraTech
- Orga Systems
In addition, the
Judges decided gave an Honourable Mention to
AsiaInfo
2. Judges' Award: 'Above And Beyond The
Call Of Duty' (Open Category) - The organisation or individual who
has, in the opinion of the Judges, overcome significant difficulties or hardship
in the fulfillment of a BSS objective
Winner: Nawras
Runner Up: kajeet / Telcordia
Other Finalists:
- SFR / Capgemini
- Virgin Media / TMNG Global
3. Innovation In Billing & Information Management
(Open Category) - Innovation and enhanced functionality in product
/ service offering, approach to market &/or business modelling or
methodology
Winner: Highdeal
Runner Up: Orga Systems
Other Finalists:
- Garanti Techology
- kajeet / Telcordia
- LHS
- MetraTech
4. Best Billing / Charging Implementation (Network
Operator / Service Provider / Partners) Effective implementation of all (or
part) of a system to deliver new or improved billing &/or charging
functionality
Winner: NTT DoCoMo
Runner Up: City Of
Chicago / MetraTech
Other Finalists:
- Astelit life:) / Orga Systems
- du / LHS
- Utel / Comverse
In addition, the Judges decided to
give an Honourable Mention to Opal / CTI Group
5. Best Content / Partner Management Implementation
(Network Operator / Service Provider / Partners) Suitability,
innovation and profitability (win-win-win) for inter-business processes,
relationships and architecture for a content or other 3rd party service
implementation
The Judges did not to carry any nominations forward as Winner in this
category.
6. Best e/m-Commerce / Payments / Collections Implementation
(Open Category) - Effective implementation of all (or part) of
systems and business processes to deliver financial transaction processing
capability for commerce, payments &/or collections
Winner:
Garanti Bank and Maxis / paybox
Other
Finalists:
- QQ Coin
- VimpelCom / Kabira
7. Best Revenue Assurance / Management Project
(Network Operator / Service Provider / Partners) Effectiveness of
a proactive or reactive project to enhance data quality and business processes
that improves profits, revenues and/or cash flows
Winner: BT / cVidya
Networks
Runner Up: AT&T / Ectel
Other Finalists:
- Carphone Warehouse
- Etisalat Egypt / Connectiva Systems
8. Best Customer Management / Business Intelligence / Marketing
Project (Open Category) - Effective implementation of CRM, CEM,
BI, data integration &/or marketing systems and processes to improve
customer information management &/or enhance brand loyalty for the
organisation's portfolio of services offered
The Judges did not carry any nominations forward as Finalists in this
category. However, they did give an Honourable Mention to George
Kohl
"We are delighted to honour all of the winners and finalists of the World BSS
Awards." said Hugh Roberts, Chairman of the Awards Judging Panel and
Consultant Director for IIR's BSS, OSS & RM Events. "Judging is
hard - but enjoyable - work. The projects and companies chosen as winners always
enlighten us, and reflect the ability of the telecoms industry to effectively
get to grips with its customer management, information management and
transaction processing demands. Convergence - however you choose to define it -
only makes this harder, but I have no doubt that telecoms BSS professionals will
rise to the challenge!"
Launch of Test Automation Alliance led by Spirent
Spirent Communications plc (LSE: SPT), a global provider of
performance analysis and service management solutions, has announced
the formation of the Test Automation Alliance (TAA), an "ecosystem" of
best-in-class testing companies focused on improving productivity across
the entire telecom product development and service deployment life
cycle. This alliance is the first of its kind to promote a common vision
enabling service providers and network equipment manufacturers to
optimise lab resources through advanced automation.
Achieving
seamless, straightforward, sustainable and cost effective test
automation is a significant challenge for lab managers. TAA offers a
unique framework called Automation Continuum™ which integrates
best-in-class test automation technologies such as lab management,
configuration management, test authoring and test management.
Members of the alliance include EdenTree Technologies,
FanFare and MRV. These companies have a track record of
delivering automation technology and are committed to
leveraging their combined expertise to advance the Automation
Continuum.
Spirent TestCenter™ offers enhanced testing productivity by
covering a broad range of network technologies from Layer 2 to Layer 7
for LAN, Enterprise, Metropolitan, Carrier and Broadband Access
networks and their devices – all on a single platform. EdenTree
provides a software platform that delivers a dynamic lab
environment to optimise equipment usage, sharing and tracking.
Fanfare's test authoring and test management tools iTest™ Team
and iTest™ Personal eliminate the need for manual and repetitive
testing tasks. While MRV brings a comprehensive set of physical layer tools
that enable test automation of the physical layer and facilitates
remote testing, reduces cable-related test errors and allows test
equipment to be shared between multiple testers.
“The Test Automation Alliance challenges the status quo and
redefines testing as a continuum that integrates best-in-class lab
testing tools to create a holistic approach to lab automation,” said
Elisabeth Rainge, director of Network Software at IDC. “It focuses on
the requirements of service providers and network equipment
manufacturers to accelerate the deployment of new services and products
as the testing cycles have begun to exceed development cycles.”
Test automation traditionally is developed and supported with
in-house solutions that require labs to shift highly skilled test
operators from testing and troubleshooting to creating and supporting
complex in-house test automation environments. Today, automation
technologies are highly advanced and much more cost effective to
deploy, which minimises the need for in-house solutions. The Automation
Continuum enables test labs to either choose from a suite of
device-agnostic, best-in-class tools targeted at advancing a specific
area of their existing automation framework or purchase a complete test
automation framework. No matter what level of automation the test labs
have deployed, the alliance enables a continuum in automation
advancements.
Japan's NEC surprises market with acquisition of US-based OSS vendor NetCracker
Tokyo, June 27,
2008 - NEC Corporation (NEC) today
announced a definitive agreement to acquire NetCracker Technology Corp.
(NetCracker), a US-based software and solutions company delivering operations support systems (OSS) transformation to
communications service providers across the globe.
NEC reports that this strategic acquisition
underscores its "long-standing commitment" to offer innovative solutions to the
communications industry, enabling them to transform their business, and rapidly
deploy new infrastructure and services. It does, however, represent a significant change of direction into OSS for the Japanese company, that is better known for its device-side products. The terms of the deal have not yet been publicised.
With this acquisition NEC adds a
key element of software and services to its market leading portfolio of mobile
and fixed infrastructure products. NetCracker’s products, services and domain
expertise will be integral to
leveraging complementary assets within both companies.
“NetCracker has distinguished itself
with a record of successful OSS transformations and exceptional software
solutions and professional services for leading communications service
providers,” said Mr Kaoru Yano, president of NEC. “The acquisition of
NetCracker strengthens NEC’s offerings and brings even greater value to the
global communications industry.”
“NEC and NetCracker share a vision
of operations and business support systems being critical to communications
service providers, enabling them to build a sustainable competitive advantage,”
said Andrew Feinberg, CEO of NetCracker. “NEC’s scale and solution offering will
help us extend our core application and services footprint and continue to
broaden the solutions we offer to our global customers.”
NEC’s communications carrier
business is continually expanding and the company’s superior line-up of
telecommunication products includes full line and full layer support; the early
adoption of next generation network-related business and globally competitive business models such
as Pasolink and submarine cable systems.
NEC will now leverage the
acquisition of NetCracker to strengthen its existing business foundations and to
provide total solutions for communications businesses whose IP and service
diversification needs continue to grow. The company anticipates that OSS will represent a key element to new international growth that is
expected to generate approximately 200 billion yen over the next five years.
NetCracker’s know-how in
transforming OSS enables communications service providers
to deploy new services, as well as build operational excellence and closer customer
relationships. As service providers move to an all-IP environment and become
more diversified, the company’s expertise becomes an increasingly essential
element of their success. Furthermore, the ongoing debut of innovative new
services, including IPTV, Triple-Play, 3G and others, provides exciting new
opportunities for deploying the next generation of OSS. NetCracker employs
approximately 1,000 people worldwide and its customers include France Telecom,
MTS, Sprint, TELUS, Telstra, UPC and other leading communications service
providers (CSPs) globally.
The new business relationship is
expected to foster innovative solutions that address the needs of CSPs and accelerate NEC’s international software
business. NEC is committed to retaining the relationships and go-to-market
strategies that NetCracker has developed. When the transaction closes
NetCracker will operate as an independent business unit led by its current
management team, and will become the centrepiece of NEC’s communications service
provider software business.
Will Yahoo's play for mobile pay off? - New report
London, UK, 23 July 2008. Yahoo, the number two internet search engine, currently leads in mobile web
destinations due to an aggressive play to capitalise on the still emerging
mobile search and advertising space. Google,
Microsoft, AOL, and other players are all jockeying to be first to pocket
profits from the most lucrative market to arise since internet search and
shopping. Advertisers will spend US$1.8 billion on mobile media in 2007, which
visiongain predicts will rise to $17.5 billion by 2012.
In a new report,
visiongain explores Yahoo’s strategy in mobile in the medium-term future, and
discusses the significant opportunities and threats that the company poses to
current industry players. How will Yahoo affect your operations? Should you be working with the company
to leverage its expertise in mobile search and advertising, or would you be
better off working with one of its competitors instead?
Is Yahoo likely to launch a VoIP phone leveraging current partner eBay's
Skype or an enhanced version of its own Yahoo! Voice? 3 recently became the
first operator to offer a mass market device tailor-made for free
calling over the internet from a mobile. Now, all of Skype's 246 million
registered users can be reached for free with the 3 Skypephone. Will Yahoo
produce a similar device, or will it enter this deal in a very big way
considering Yahoo already has partnered with 3 to provide Yahoo! Go for Mobile
2.0 to 3 Group customers in the UK, Italy, Ireland, Sweden, and Denmark, with
other 3 Group markets expected to follow by year end? This report addresses
bleeding edge issues Yahoo and the industry face, providing insightful analysis
on deals, market plays, and future mergers yet to be explored in other
studies.
The report tackles several key questions:
• What are Yahoo’s strategic visions and future plans in
mobile?
• How will Yahoo’s model perform in the mobile landscape?
• What
are Yahoo’s current activities in this space?
• What strategies and
opportunities are open to Yahoo in mobile?
• Will Yahoo launch a VoIP or
cellular phone?
• Will Google’s text ads be overshadowed by Yahoo’s mobile
display ads?
For more information on the report contact Qahramon Ikromov at:
telecoms.conferences1@conferencesandreports.com
BT buys Silicon Valley's Ribbit for US$105m
London, UK. July 29, 2008 - Ribbit has been acquired by UK incumbent telco, BT for $105m. Ribbit is an open platform for multi-protocol communication, that is said by its US creators to "empower a new market of voiceware applications and services". BT's mission with Ribbit is to accelerate voice innovation by enabling
developers to bring to market the applications and products that end users need to stay in touch with their friends, family, colleagues
and customers.
As communications and computing are quickly coming
together, we are seeing new technologies being invented, new business models forming
and new partnerships being created. Ribbit and BT intend that, through Ribbit's developer community, they will enable the dvelopment of improved voice services.
The Ribbit platform is designed to give developers,
integrators and product innovators the opportunity to ride on our
platform and leverage its APIs to create new communication solutions
for private businesses, global enterprises, vertical markets and the
masses.
The platform enables developers to bring
together the richness of voice calling and Web 2.0 experiences. With
Ribbit, voice can become a rich feature that can be added to any
application, on any device. Free from a traditional handset or the
latest mobile phone, voice can now be delivered and received on
multiple devices in multiple locations, across any network. It can be
integrated, monetized and personalized using the Ribbit platform.
Inevitably, Ribbit will be seen in the contect of Google's Android and Apple'siPhone. For some the former is merely a cloak for increasing Google's Advertisement sales, while the latter is tied to the Apple iPhone platform. Although this is an open platform technology, BT's challenge will be to see if it can escape being associated purely with BT's own services.
Hatzipantelis appointed as new CEO of Danet
IT consulting and service company, Danet GmbH has
appointed Jürgen Hatzipantelis as its chief executive officer. Hatzipanteilis has been the chief sales officer (CSO) at Danet since
November 2007. Prior to joining the company he was CEO at TietoEnator Deutschland.
The new CEO aims to strengthen the company’s
market position as one of the 25 largest IT service companies in the German
market, and put Danet back on a path to growth.
Hatzipantelis succeeds Dr Reiner Nickel who is leaving Danet after 23 years.
Nickel has successfully stabilised the
company, and pushed its repositioning ahead by focusing Danet on IT consulting
and services. He is leaving to seek a new professional challenge.
Said Jacques Bentz, chairman of Danet’s Supervisory Board: “Jürgen
Hatzipantelis is an experienced manager who knows the IT and communications
sector very well. At Danet, he has already successfully paved the road for the
company’s future development. As its CEO he will now put the company on a path
for profitable growth.”
Australia's Powerlan wins control of Omnix Software
London, UK. September 3, 2008 – Omnix Software, a
privately-held
UK-based provider of software systems for telecoms
operators which help organisations to plan, launch and manage their wireless
networks, today announced that Powerlan, the specialist Australian-based information
technology group, has purchased a 51% interest in the
company for an undisclosed sum.
Powerlan's UK-based European general manager,
William Tickner, has been appointed as Omnix Software’s CEO
with immediate effect. The company’s founder and current owner, Martin Coates, will remain as chairman. Omnix Software
assists mobile operators to deliver complex network projects and manage
network assets. It has a global customer base which includes major operators
such as Vodafone, Orange, O2/Telefonica, Millicom, Celtel-Zain,
Orascom and Mobilkom. Omnix Software will shortly complete its next generation
product roll-out at Vodafone Ireland.
The Omnix
software platform is an OSS resource and workflow management tool, specifically
designed to provide today's 2G, 2.5G and 3G mobile telecoms operators with a
comprehensive solution to manage all aspects of planning, building, and
operating a wireless network. Omnix Software focuses on helping mobile network
operators realise operational efficiency across the entire network lifecycle,
creating demonstrable savings within the engineering and infrastructure function
and driving large potential reductions in the capital requirement for
infrastructure rollout.
The acquisition
of the majority shareholding in Omnix Software directly complements the
activities of one of Powerlan’s other businesses, Clarity, a specialist in unified operational support systems (OSS). Clarity provides proven,
pre-integrated inventory, fulfilment and assurance applications on a single
SID-based database, enabling real-time executive visibility of the network's
impact on revenues and customer experience. Clarity has offices in, Asia, Europe
the Middle East and Africa. Strong synergies
are expected between Clarity and Omnix.
William Tickner commented:
“Omnix Software’s solutions and global mobile customer base creates a new market
opportunity for Powerlan as well as being a complementary extension to sister
company, Clarity’s OSS product portfolio. We are planning to expand our operations in several geographies. In Asia Pacific in
particular we see significant potential for Omnix within Clarity’s established
Tier 1 mobile client base, to seamlessly extend existing network inventory
solutions into the asset management domain.”
Formerly Andrew Network Solutions, Omnix Software is headquartered in Bristol and was founded in 1998. Its products address the key business
issues facing mobile operators in the planning, rollout and management of 2G,
2.5G and 3G networks. Its flagship product, Omnix is a
modular OSS
resource and workflow management solution, comprising infrastructure project
delivery, property management and asset management.
Openet continues expansion with new office in Malaysia
Dublin, Ireland – Openet, a provider of transactional intelligence systems for service
providers, has opened a new Malaysia office in Kuala
Lumpur. With demand growing across the Asia Pacific region, this expansion enhances Openet’s global presence and its ability to deliver
innovative products and services to telecommunications and cable providers
worldwide. This announcement comes on the heels of Openet’s announcement of a
new office in Brazil.
Kuala
Lumpur was chosen because it delivered the largest pool
of qualified talent. Since recruitment began for the facility in February,
Openet has hired 15 experienced professional services engineers to support the company’s expanding operations. With an anticipated 10 - 15 new hires in
product development and 20 to 30 additional professional services staff, the
Malaysia office is now a significant
development and support centre for the company.
“With worldwide
recognition for our transactional intelligence solutions, growing our support
staff has become vital to providing our customers with the products and services
the market demands,” said Cyril Dolan, VP of professional services,
EMEA/APAC, Openet. “Asia is a hot
spot for telecommunications innovation. The new Malaysia office is poised to support
the growth already happening in the region and worldwide, and will fuel the
development of new innovative technologies.”
With support personnel in North
America, Ireland and now
Malaysia, Openet can provide
around-the-clock service and support to its worldwide customer base. As the
market for network-edge solutions in Asia expands exponentially and continues to
show immense growth potential.
Nigel Pink to manage Ipanema in UK and Ireland
London, UK.
September 8, 2008 — Ipanema
Technologies, a leader in application traffic management systems for wide area
networks, today announced that Nigel Pink has been appointed vice president and
general manager for the UK and Ireland (UKI).
Pink
has extensive experience both in the UK & Ireland and internationally, including most of
the 27 European Union countries, as well as the Middle East, Africa, China and the United States. Recent
roles have included key positions at Cisco Systems, SAP and Interel PR and
PA Consulting. Pink led the creation of Cisco’s Europe Middle East & Africa
(EMEA) business with IBM, which grew to become a multi-billion dollar business. At SAP, he drove its public sector business in
EMEA’s non-German speaking countries. At Interel, his practice provided sales
management consulting for leading organisations including Oracle Corporation,
Unisys and SUN Micro Systems.
Reza Madhavi, president of Ipanema Technologies,
said: “The UK & Ireland market is an exciting and increasingly important one for
Ipanema. We are ramping up to meet
strong demand for our offerings. Nigel’s appointment is central to our
growth here. He brings the right mix of leadership skills, high-tech experience and
knowledge of global markets through key prior management roles.”
Enterprises
are increasingly
demanding their service providers deliver value added network services versus
pure bandwidth services. Ipanema Technologies in partnership with BT, Cable
& Wireless, Orange Business Services, TATA Communications and VANCO, part
of the Reliance Telecom Group, is the first in the UK & Ireland to offer turnkey
managed services that address the strategic requirements of global network
management and optimisation.
Complementing the value added network services
approach, Ipanema sells directly to enterprises, partnering with systems
integrator such as Telindus. According to Pink, “Performance of
business critical applications across the network is essential to every
organisations' success. Ipanema's Autonomic Networking System ensures
applications such as point of sales and supply change management perform at all
times. In doing so, Ipanema provides detailed insight to manage valuable
network infrastructure and resources.”
EXCLUSIVE: WeDo CEO tells VanillaPlus of next round of M&As
London, UK. September 12, 2008: Talking exclusively to VanillaPlus today, Rui Paiva, CEO of WeDo technologies, the Portugal-based business process control company disclosed that WeDo has begun the second round of its international acquisition strategy.
WeDo has five regional divisions each with its
own sales and delivery team, plus a central software development division, and a
business consulting division – following its acquisition of the UK company Praesidium last year. WeDo
also acquired two other companies in 2007, Cape
Technologies in Ireland and Tecnológica in Brazil.
Said Paiva: "Now we
are starting the second wave of acquisitions, approaching five key companies
worldwide to ask if they are open to discussions with us. Asia and North America are particularly important to us now, so
there are two targets in each. I hope you will see something happen next year."
Full report in VanillaPlus Directory 2009 (out soon).
Dialogic to acquire NMS Communications Platforms business
Montreal, Canada - Dialogic Corporation has announced
that it has a definitive agreement with NMS
Communications Corp to acquire the NMS Communications
Platforms business, which provides enabling technology and tools for
value added services in mobile telecoms. The NMS Communications
Platforms business features the Open Access family of boards and
APIs including PacketMedia Host Media Processing, and the AG series, TX
series, CG series, MG series as well as the Vision family of servers and
gateways.
Under the deal, Dialogic plans to acquire
the business, associated assets and
agreed liabilities for US$28 million in cash, subject
to some adjustments. The
transaction was unanimously approved by NMS’s
board and is expected to close in Q4
2008. The agreement is
also subject to approval by the stockholders of NMS, and a special
meeting of stockholders is anticipated during the fourth quarter of this year.
“The mobile value added service market segment
is a critical growth area for Dialogic and, as such, NMS’s
products and employees will be an important asset to us going forward.
The inclusion of video as an increasingly important element of a typical
mobile phone call is an important investment area for Dialogic.
Combining the Dialogic®”, said Nick Jensen, Dialogic’s president and CEO. “NMS’s
excellent high density technology enabling boards will also complement
the current Dialogic TDM, IP and hybrid technology enabling offerings. video technology with
the NMS Vision product line will enable a quicker time to market and a
more complete product offering than either of us could have provided on
our own.”
Clarity buys business and assets of Dot Communications
Sydney, Australia. October 7, 2008 -- Clarity, a leader in Unified Operational Support
Systems (OSS), today announced it has acquired certain customer contracts and
assets of Dot Communications Pty Ltd relating to their Viper business,
including a source code license to use Dot’s Viper Wholesale Service Delivery
Platform. The sale (for an undisclosed sum) involves a combination of an upfront cash payment and
success-based royalty payments over three years.
The acquisition of Dot’s Viper Business will strengthen
Clarity’s ability to deliver customer self-service and wholesale IP
provisioning capability.
Tony Kalcina (above), founder and executive director of Clarity
comments, “We are strengthening our position in the market with this
acquisition and will not only be better placed to provide superior customer
solutions for our clients but offer an additional accountability tool to ensure
strong results. It is our belief that empowering our customers is the surest
way to success."
Rory Brennan, CEO of Dot Communications adds, "Viper has
been an extremely successful product for us in recent years, albeit in a local
ANZ context, so we are delighted with this new partnership with such a strong
market leader. We look forward to continued success, helping Clarity to build
on their existing customer base and taking Viper into the broader international
arena”.
Convergys ups its BSS/OSS investment by buying Ceon
Cincinatti, USA. October 6 2008 -- Convergys Corporation is expanding the breadth
of its business and operations support systems (BSS/OSS) offered to clients through
the acquisition of Ceon Corporation. Ceon develops product lifecycle management
and multi-play fulfilment software for communications service providers.
Ceon, a privately held company founded in 1999, maintains a principal office in
Redwood City, California,
with satellite offices in France
and the UK.
Last January, Convergys and Ceon announced a strategic alliance for which
Convergys issued convertible debt with the right to acquire the company.
VanillaPlus questioned Ceon’s Yogen Patel at Mobile World Congress in February
about the financial position taken in the company by Convergys, and the
prospects of an early takeover. His partial answer then was that “there is a
financial, OEM, joint development and joint integration relationship between the
two companies”.
The new capabilities, delivered as Convergys Enterprise Product Management
Solutions, are designed to enable Convergys’ clients to more effectively manage
their product lifecycle across all network domains, shortening time to market
for new convergent offers, improving quality, and reducing the costs associated
with managing a large product portfolio. Convergys now aims to enable service
providers to better construct, manage, and deploy a layered catalogue that
includes the full technical and commercial definition of products and services.
“As service providers launch new convergent services to differentiate
themselves from their competitors, their product management requirements become
increasingly complex,” said Bob Lento, president of Information Management for
Convergys. “Ceon’s product management assets are at the heart of our strategy
to help our clients more effectively manage new and advanced value-added
services, introduce these services quickly, and evolve these new offers at market
speed.”
Ari Banerjee, director, Enabling Technologies for Yankee Group said: “In our
opinion, Convergys' acquisition of Ceon is a great decision that will enable it
to empower carriers to transition to a centralised catalogue strategy, bringing
order to the chaotic product management process that is so inherent in carrier's
OSS and BSS
environments.”
Telecom operators, such as ice.net (formerly Nordisk Mobiltelefon), are
leveraging the product lifecycle management solution to more rapidly launch new
products, and streamline ordering and fulfilment processes for their clients. “Ceon Product
Control Center
is enabling us to rapidly define and launch new offerings, in some cases in a
matter of hours,” said Thomas Norberg, CIO of ice.net.
Naughton moves to VoluBill
London, UK. October 24, 2008 -- Martine Naughton has left the service fulfilment
company, Axiom Systems – which was recently acquired by Comptel – to join France-based
VoluBill. Martine had led the marketing and PR team at Axiom Systems since 2001.
She has now been appointed head of Marketing at VoluBill, working in the policy
and charging space. Martine will continue to be based in the UK, working from VoluBill’s London office.
Comptel extends its Latin America footprint
Helsinki, Finland. October 23, 2008 -- Comptel Corporation has now established representations in Mexico City and Buenos Aires, Argentina to support the
growing Latin American market. These representations complement Comptel’s main office in the region in Sao Paulo (Brazil),
which has been the bridgehead for Comptel since 2002, and has been central to the
company’s success in the region.
Comptel, a leading vendor of dynamic operations support system (OSS) software, has achieved considerable success across Latin
America in recent years. It
now has over ten customers in the region, including major
communications service providers in Mexico,
Argentina, Brazil, Peru,
Venezuela and Ecuador.
Comptel also sees tremendous
potential in extending existing strong partnerships with global system
integrators as well as creating new alliances with local partners as key
drivers for growth in the region.
“As adoption rates for new telecom,
mobile and broadband technologies increase, Latin American communications
service providers face a lot of challenges, but they also have a tremendous
opportunity,” said Mr Alexandre Troise, VP Latin America at Comptel.
“As an international company that
has worked with over 280 customers worldwide, Comptel
has specific experience in helping service providers optimise their OSS and increase
revenues from new advanced wireless services leveraged by the introduction of
3G and WiMax, as well as those generated by new content-driven technologies
like IPTV, mobile TV and VoIP. The growing adoption of IP in the region,
especially in corporate segments, will also bring new challenges to operators
making a dynamic OSS layer essential to help them improving time to market,” Troise concluded.
T-Mobile launches personalised service for mobile customers
Manchester, UK. 24 October, 2008 -- T-Mobile is launching the next
stage in its customer service strategy through multi-channelled mobile
personalisation.
The global telecoms provider has announced the
structured deployment of pioneering VoiceObjects technology across European
markets as part of its “self-service in your pocket” customer initiative. This
multi-channel approach ensures that a useful mix of service channels is
available to T-Mobile customers on-demand.
The VoiceObjects “design
once, deploy anywhere” technology approach is important to T-Mobile’s initiative
because it enables the one-time development of an application which can run on
every available phone channel: voice, video, text or mobile Web.
As a
result, T-Mobile customers will experience a fast, personalised self-service
across mobile web, SMS and voice portals, driving the company’s long-term
strategy of developing a complete self-service environment capitalising on the
strengths of each individual channel.
“These days, customer self-service
must fulfil two needs,” stresses Daniel Hendling, program manager at T-Mobile
International. “First, the service must be easy and attractive so that the
customer wants to use it as a preferred channel. Secondly, we have to optimise
efficiency for the company so that ultimately, we can offer affordable services
through a range of channels. With VoiceObjects, we have found an ideal
technology partner to provide us with a simple, yet cost-effective self-service
architecture.”
“VoiceObjects is in a unique position of being able to
deliver personalised phone self-service over popular phone channels, used by
consumers every day,” said Michael Codini, VoiceObjects CTO and managing director EMEA. “With VoiceObjects, T-Mobile can lower costs by having one
development and deployment environment and by deploying applications built for
one channel across multiple channels.”
Comfone and Infobrain establish independent, Swiss-based clearing unit
Bern,
Switzerland. 30 October, 2008 –
Comfone, the Swiss-based roaming specialist and a provider of roaming services to
more than 300 mobile operators around the world, and Infobrain, a global market
leader in providing systems for GSM/3G roaming and TAP3 data management, today
announced the establishment of an independent clearing unit. The new unit
provides data and financial clearing services for mobile operators and is based
on state-of-the-art data and financial clearing systems, NRTRDE, RAEX and fraud prevention systems.
The announcement
is part of Comfone’s strategic initiative to become the telecoms
industry’s leading, independent hub provider of integrated solutions for mobile
operators. With over 10 years of experience in roaming services provision,
Comfone offers a wide range of in-house services, including signalling,
financial clearing, hubbing, WLAN roaming, convergence and data services. Until
today, Comfone relied on existing data clearing platforms to support the
provision of its data clearing service (also see Roaming article in VanillaPlus December 2008 issue, out Dec 8). Now, with the setting up of the new
Data and Financial Clearing Unit, Comfone completes its portfolio of in-house
services and secures its position as a fully independent roaming, inter-carrier
and hub services provider.
The new Clearing
Unit, provided in partnership by Comfone and Zürich-based company, Infobrain,
is said to ensure premium quality functionality, "Swiss precision" in data handling and
exceptional customer care. By combining Infobrain’s and Comfone’s expertise in
the data and financial clearing business, the aim is that customers will profit from a concentration
of clearing proficiency in Switzerland.
The new Clearing Unit will be fully operational by the end of 2008 and is to
provide data clearing, financial clearing, NRTRDE, fraud prevention and RAEX services. All industry standards will be supported.
Mathias Prüssing,
CEO Comfone, said: “I am convinced that the launch of our independent Clearing
Unit offers mobile operators a concrete alternative in a consolidated market.
Together with Infobrain, we are committed to providing dedicated services
supporting the data exchange between mobile operators with the Swiss quality
our customers demand.”
Amdocs to acquire ChangingWorlds for US$60m
November 6, 2008. Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), provider of customer experience systems, has announced that yesterday it signed a
definitive agreement to acquire Changing Worlds Ltd, a
privately-held provider of personalisation and intelligent portal solutions for
mobile service providers. Amdocs has also agreed
to acquire all of ChangingWorlds’ shares for US$60 million in cash, net of cash on
hand, subject to post-closing adjustments.
Additional consideration may be paid
later based on the achievement of certain performance metrics. The acquisition
is subject to conditions, and is expected to close by December 31, 2008.
ChangingWorlds’ technology,
combined with the Amdocs CES portfolio, will enable better customer experiences
by allowing end users to quickly get relevant information based on what they use
most, making it easier to navigate the internet on their phones and reducing the
time they spend looking for content. ChangingWorlds’ technology currently
addresses mobile devices, and Amdocs intends to expand the technology to three
screens (mobile, PC and television) to personalise the customer experience
across all touch points. ChangingWorlds and Amdocs share several customers
including Sprint, the Vodafone Group and Telefonica O2.
“Sprint is committed to
delivering the best possible customer experience across a wide range of data
services, including internet browsing,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice
president of product and technology development for Sprint. “Sprint and Amdocs
have worked together for years on a number of important projects designed to
enhance the customer experience. ChangingWorlds has been integral to our Sprint
Web offering and provides the technology and expertise that will help us
continue to deliver enhanced and personalised internet services.”
“Personalisation is a
cornerstone of Amdocs’ strategy to offer customer experience systems, and
ChangingWorlds is a recognised global expert in this area,” said Dov
Baharav, chief executive officer of Amdocs Management Ltd. “ChangingWorlds’ dynamic portal offerings surpass the traditional ‘one-
size-fits- all’ approach, and no single vendor can match its range and
sophistication of personalisation services.”
ChangingWorlds’
patented technology automatically builds subscriber profiles based on user
behaviour and usage patterns that require no user input or action to make finding
relevant content faster and involving fewer clicks. For example, a sports
enthusiast will see the link to latest information about his or her favourite football
team on their home page, while a classical music fan will see the link to the
upcoming concerts in their area.
“Amdocs and
ChangingWorlds recognise the power of the customer experience and the potential
for service providers to further exploit their place in the digital value
chain,” said David Moran, chief executive officer of ChangingWorlds. “Both
Amdocs and ChangingWorlds will continue to aggressively execute on the shared
vision of enabling service providers to offer the most compelling customer
experience, to grow revenue from data services and retain customers.”
The impact of the
acquisition on Amdocs’ non-GAAP earnings per share is expected to be neutral in
fiscal 2009. The impact on GAAP results will be finalised after Amdocs
completes the purchase price accounting for the acquisition. Amdocs may incur a
one-time, acquisition-related expense in the quarter to December 31, 2008 to
account for certain costs related to the acquisition.
FireSky to improve relationships with gamers
Cincinnati and Phoenix, USA. 6 November, 2008
-- FireSky, a new video game publisher
dedicated to improving how gamers play together online, has signed a
contract for Convergys’ relationship management solutions.
Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) will
provide online gaming consumers of the soon-to-be-released Stargate Worlds
massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) with state-of-the-art
inbound customer support services. Convergys’ dedicated contact centre
agents will initially provide customer support to English, French, and
German-speaking customers for general game playing questions as well as
technical, account management, or subscription-related questions.
Stargate Worlds is based on
a popular Stargate television series from MGM. Players who step through the
gate will:
* Feel the Heat – Master the battlefield using
modern tactics and firepower
* Travel Instantly – Dial up the
Stargate to explore dozens of worlds from ancient civilisations to high-tech
planets
* Team Up – Battle devious and powerful enemies
with your friends
* Find the New You – Pick from seven
archetypes with unique skills and styles
* Don’t Fight
It – Simulate translation, repair, and sabotage with minigames as your buddies
battle it out
* Advance With the Story – New
missions, weapons, and loot delivered regularly
“In the online game space, customer service is vital," said
Wendy Dickerman, director of Customer Care, FireSky. "As a new company, FireSky
has found that it makes sense to partner with experienced, proven firms to
provide solutions for distribution and other key business aspects. We intend to
raise the bar in the MMORPG space with a higher calibre of customer service.
Convergys is going to help us get there."
“The online gaming industry continues to grow at a rapid
pace, and a key goal for the industry is to provide consumers with a superior
online gaming experience. Convergys solutions will help FireSky drive more
value from their online customer interactions, giving FireSky a clear,
competitive differentiation in this growing marketplace,” said Jim Boyce,
Convergys president, North America. “Convergys understood FireSky’s business
model and performance challenges and partnered with them to develop a win-win
technology support program for the Stargate Worlds community.”
Convergys provides
comprehensive, outsourced, business and consumer support functions, as well as
services for in-house contact centre operations. Everyday, we handle millions
of customer service interactions such as account service, billing inquiries,
technical support, and service dispatch, enhancing the customer’s experience and
driving more value from the relationship our clients have with their customers.
Convergys’ global delivery model enables us to provide support - on-shore,
offshore, or near-shore, whether in a contact centre or through our home agent
model. We provide our clients with state-of-the-art infrastructure and
self-care automation technology to not only increase customer satisfaction but
also reduce costs.
Comarch buys German software producer SoftM AG for up to €22m
Krakow, Poland. 14 November, 2008.
Comarch has signed an agreement to acquire 50.15% of the shares
in the Frankfurt-listed company, SoftM Software und Beratung AG of Munich. SoftM is the
nineteenth biggest player on the German software production market.
The
software producer is listed in the ‘Prime Standard’ segment. In line with
German law, Comarch is obliged to conduct a call to tender for the remaining
shares. The final combined value of the transaction could be greater than €22
million.
SoftM is a software producer and IT systems integrator with a 2% share of
the German ERP (enterprise resource planning) market. The SoftM Group employs
420 people and is active in Germany,
Switzerland, Austria, France,
the Czech Republic
and Poland.
The group supplies IT services and solutions to more than 4,000 customers and
targets its products – including its flagship products: Semiramis, SharkNex and
SoftM Suite – chiefly at companies in the MSP (managed service provider)
sector. The group’s revenue in 2007 was close to €60 million with EBITDA
(earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) greater than
€3 million.
SoftM shares were acquired by Comarch Software AG of Dresden, which is a Comarch SA subsidiary.
Comarch Software AG signed an agreement to buy 1.75 million shares from current SoftM shareholders for €6.038 million
with a subsequent agreement signed to take up a new issue of 1.5 million shares
at a price of €5.175 million. This will give Comarch Software AG a
majority stake in SoftM. The combined cost of the acquisition of shares is
greater than €11.2 million. The acquisition has been financed entirely
from Comarch SA’s own resources.
JDSU acquires Circadiant to meet growing need for SFP+ and 10 GigE stress testing
Milpitas, California, USA. 18 November, 2008 – JDSU, one of the
leading providers of test solutions for the research and development (R&D), system
verification testing and production needs of carrier labs, network equipment
manufacturers and their supply chains, today announced it has acquired
Circadiant, a leading company in SFP+, 10 GigE and other stressed
signal test solutions.
Circadiant expands JDSU’s product
portfolio for the lab and production test market by capitalising on a number of
key assets, including Circadiant’s successful Hydra and OST product platforms,
established test expertise and close customer relationships with leading network
equipment manufacturers, optical module vendors and semiconductor companies. Circadiant, in turn, will benefit from JDSU’s extensive optical transport
product development capabilities and global distribution channels.
The SFP+ transceiver is specified by a multi-source agreement between manufacturers and allows greater port density (the number of
transceivers per inch along the edge of a mother board) than other transceiver
configurations. SFP+ is emerging as the 10 GigE optical interface of choice
because it enables lower cost and even higher port density network interface
cards. To achieve this, developers and manufactures are faced with new
compliance and performance test challenges that are addressed by Circadiant’s
products and systems.
“To capitalise on the economic benefits of developing SFP+
modules, equipment manufacturers require test solutions that evolve
accordingly,” said Bill Mortimer, vice president and general manager in JDSU’s
Communications Test and Measurement business segment. “Circadiant has
technology and products that not only meet this challenge but complement the
JDSU optical transport test portfolio and offer important test capabilities our
customers are asking for.”
Circadiant standards-based test solutions include the Hydra
platform, the industry’s first 10 GigE Long Reach Multimode and 10 GigE
SFP+ test systems, and the OST platform for testing optical components, modules
and systems using real world conditions.
“Testing 10GigE components and systems requires the
verification of standards compliance for product development, but also
simplified, lower cost test solutions for manufacturing,” said My Chung, CEO of
Circadiant. “Providing industry-first test solutions that help meet new and
complex challenges associated with SFP+ while also accelerating time-to-market
is the differentiator for Circadiant products. We will expand these
capabilities as part of JDSU.”