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
People News
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.
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.
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!"
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.
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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.”
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.”
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.