OSS giant Telcordia has hastened consolidation in the OSS sector by buying up inventory specialist and sometime business partner Granite Systems.
OSS giant Telcordia has hastened consolidation in the OSS sector by buying up inventory specialist and sometime business partner Granite Systems.
Granite was 20% owned by Telcordia’s own parent company Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and was a partner in Telcordia’s Elementive programme. (Elementive is Telcordia’s open standard, modular approach for next generation OSS products and solutions.)
Rich Mangan, vp EMEA for Telcordia, said that the acquisition was made at a time when operator and carrier investment in OSS is “taking off”.
“Granite has an excellent position in inventory management and we already have a number of dealings with Granite and it seemed a perfect time. We had a good working relationship and a nice cultural fit.”
Mangan said that there were no current plans to acquire more of Telcordia’s Elementive partners. “I am sure we will continue to succeed with our partners but we will not necessarily buy all of our partners,” he joked. Other Elementive partners include service assurance specialist Steleus and Elementive also includes technology acquired from DAX Tecgnologies.
Granite too has other partners, not the least of which is Agilent, a direct competitor of Telcordia’s. Mangan said that all such partnerships are now under review.
“We’ve been having a number of discussions with OEMs and VARs, reaffirming our overall approach. Where it makes sense at the request of our clients we will welcome all opportunities for partnership.”
When asked if Agilent in particular would be more problematical as a partnership he replied, “It could be. But any opportunities that present themselves make for interesting partnerships.”
On the reaction of operators to consolidation in the market, Mangan said he had received positive feedback from customers so far, and said future alliance strategies would be determined by customer needs.
Nigel Clifford, director of Tertio, a provisioning company that also has a relationship with Granite, said that he saw the acquisition as “a logical fit” and said he would “look forward to opportunities of working together in the future”. Tertio views itself as a provisioning company as non-competitive with either company and doesn’t anticipate there being any change in its relationship.
Granite spokespeople were thin on the ground, with most of the top people seemingly whisked over to the USA and uncontactable, presumably to begin their induction into Telcordia. Mangan said he had been to see Granite staff and said the deal would be positive for Granite employees. He was more vague on whether the Granite name and brand would continue to be seen within Telcordia.
As far as the mobile market goes, Granite has around a 50% share of the mobile operator market in the NAFTA zone for its inventory products. Telcordia is hoping to fit that experience to European mobile operators as well, Mangan said.