Comverse

From Efrat to Comverse

Comverse's roots are in Efrat Future Technology, founded in Israel by Kobi Alexander, Boaz Misholi and Prof. Yechiam Yemini. According to a review by Shlomo Maital of the Samuel Neaman Institute, it was founded in 1982; according to a 1999 Globes article, it was in 1983. The American holding company Comverse Technology was incorporated in New York in October 1984, according to its filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The Israeli Efrat developed the product, and Comverse Technology was the American parent company. Comverse went public on Nasdaq in 1986, raising $6.5 million according to Globes.

What the voicemail system did

The Trilogue product provided computerized voice mailboxes. At first it was sold mainly to organizations, and later it was moved to sit alongside the switches of phone companies: the operator could offer subscribers a service for leaving and retrieving messages from within the network. That way subscribers did not need to buy a separate answering machine at home. The company's business also expanded into text and multimedia messaging, internet-based communications and billing systems. Its 2012 report describes prepaid and postpaid billing systems, customer management and systems for optimizing mobile internet access. These were products for the operator's infrastructure, even when users knew only the service on their phone.

Milestone and global reach

A 1999 Globes article reported that Comverse had a 42% share of the world market for voicemail for phone and cellular companies. According to the article, the company had more than 300 telecom companies as customers, including more than 200 cellular companies and 14 of the world's 20 largest telecom companies. In its 2012 report Comverse reported that its products and services were used by more than 450 communication service providers in more than 125 countries, including most of the world's 100 largest mobile operators. In this way a technology developed in Israel became part of an everyday communications service on a global scale. According to a company announcement from 2015, its solutions reached more than two billion people through communication service providers and enterprises.

The crisis, the spin-off and the end of the holding company

In 2006 the stock-option backdating affair came to light, and Kobi Alexander stepped down as chairman and CEO. According to a Globes review, the crisis led to difficulties in publishing financial reports and also hurt other companies in the group. On 31 October 2012 the communications company Comverse, Inc. was spun off as an independent public company, by distributing its shares to the parent company's shareholders. On 4 February 2013 the merger of Comverse Technology into a subsidiary of Verint was completed, and the holding company ceased to exist as a separate entity. The spun-off communications company continued to operate separately, and so did Verint.

Legacy

The business legacy split along with the group. Verint, which had been part of Comverse Technology, became independent as part of ending the holding structure. Comverse's billing systems business went to Amdocs: on 2 July 2015 the two companies announced the completion of the sale of the business support systems division's assets for about $273 million. Amdocs noted that the assets included prepaid and postpaid billing and the Kenan products, and that the acquisition expanded its customer base. The remaining communications business changed its name to Xura in 2015, and in May 2016 its sale to the Siris Capital fund was agreed at a value of about $643 million. The name Comverse therefore refers both to a historic company that came to an end and to technologies and customers that moved to other companies.