NEC is boosting its BSS capabilities with a $449 million (€338 million) acquisition of Convergys Corporation’s information management business.
The business will be integrated into NEC subsidiary NetCracker Technology, a move senior management says positions the firm for next-generation business models and cloud technology. The acquisition is due to close during the second quarter.
Sanjay Mewada, NetCracker’s vice president of strategy, says the purchase strengthens the firm’s customer-facing services. The information management business includes a “secure platform, that is extremely standards based,” and that is “optimized for what is coming in the next 12 to 24 months,” in terms of delivering services via cloud computing.
While the deal opens the door to communications, utility and logistics markets, Mewada notes the skill set the acquisition brings to NetCracker is equally important. The deal includes 2,500 Convergys BSS experts and 150 customers globally. “People are one of the most important elements in BSS,” Mewada said in a conference call, adding. “It takes a long time to build skill sets.”
NEC claims the acquisition creates a software-focused telecoms business that is “unprecedented in its scale and size.”