Bangalore - Sobha Renaissance Information Technology (SRIT) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Objective Systems Integrators, Inc.(OSI) - a global supplier of Telecom Operations Support Systems (OSS) - from Agilent Technologies, a Fortune 500 American corporation. The key factor influencing the decision is the strategic fit with its Telecom BSS business.  This is SRIT's second acquisition in the Telecom space in a span of the last one year. It acquired Billing Components AG, a 12 year old German Telecom Business Support Systems (BSS) company some eleven months ago.

SRIT's customer base will now increase to about 150 clients including a number of telecom operators from the top 50 global telecom operators with this acquisition. SRIT's asset purchase will include the renowned and proven NETeXPERT (NX) suite of products currently deployed at Tier-1 service providers globally. NETeXPERT framework-based solutions are deployed in mission-critical operations to provision and assure triple-and quad-play services and customers.

Mr. PNC Menon, Founder Chairman of the Sobha Group said, "Agilent's OSI is a great fit with SRIT's Telecom strategy and would clearly position us as a leading provider of OSS & BSS solutions for current and next generation communications service providers. This acquisition will ensure that SRIT is able to assist the Communication Service Providers to bring new services to market quickly and provide a revenue stream to leverage the huge network investments that Telecom companies make."

Dr.Madhu Nambiar, SRIT's Co-Founder and CEO further added, "In OSI, SRIT will acquire a partner with a solid OSS platform.  OSI's NETeXPERT is one of the strongest brands for service assurance and fulfillment. The focus of the deal is clearly integration.  Given the customer overlap between BSS and OSS, the deal combines SRIT's Telecom BSS product line with OSI's NETeXPERT Unified Management Architecture Platform for service assurance, fulfillment and usage data analysis. This acquisition will allow SRIT to substantially expand not only its product portfolio but also its addressable market. The current $2.5 billion market for OSS solutions is expected to grow to $5 billion by 2010.  OSS/BSS solutions for the communications industry constitute an important component of the overall communications infrastructure sector.  SRIT was founded on the belief that there was a strong need for a properly proportioned, India-based multi-national resource to meet the ever-growing telecoms OSS, BSS, software development and business process outsourcing needs of its global clients.  The combination of Agilent's OSI Telecom OSS Division and our German BSS Solutions will offer clients these comprehensive services, with a footprint in all geographies, to provide better value to clients."

Karl Whitelock, a Senior Consulting Analyst for Stratecast - a division of Frost & Sullivan commented, "In today's marketplace it is all about focusing on the customer and in providing subscribers with the communications services they want at Internet speed. While not a new problem, integrating systems to support critical business processes such as 'Service Concept to Revenue to Manage,' is essential for Communications Service Providers (CSP) to truly offer 'lifestyle services' in a world where subscribers want much more than simple voice-based capabilities.  The market is in dire need of solutions that can address such problems in a timely and cost effective manner."

Susil J. Tharian, a member of the core management team at Sobha Renaissance said, "With this acquisition, SRIT will enter into the Fulfillment and Assurance Segments.  The transaction would become revenue and profit accretive from fiscal 2007-08.  We also expect the acquisition to generate significant goodwill, other intangibles and in-process R&D." Mr.Tharian, while declining a specific number, said that the all-cash deal was significant. The SRIT team in Roseville, California, expects to complete the transition process by the end of May 2007.

SRIT has also announced appointment of Hamish Butler as the CEO of OSI.  Hamish is currently the General Manager for the NETeXPERT business within Agilent.  Additionally, SRIT has secured the services of Randy Custeau as OSI's Vice President for Sales & Marketing.  Randy is currently the Strategic Marketing Manager for Agilent's Assurance Solutions Division.  Between Hamish and Randy, they bring-in over 30 years of experience in the Telecommunications and OSS space, having worked with Hewlett Packard, Agilent and OSI.  "Both Hamish and Randy have also been inducted as members of the OSI Board, said Dr.Madhu Nambiar." 

The expanded SRIT will reorganize itself into five distinct strategic business units (SBUs) - OSI Telecoms OSS Group, BC Telecoms BSS Group, Integrated HealthCare Group, ODC Group, and Enterprise Solutions Group.      

Industry leading publication "The OSS Observer", in its March 2007 edition, has reported that, M&A activity has changed the competitive landscape in the Telecoms OSS space by giving large vendors such as IBM a bigger stake.  Due largely to its acquisition of Micromuse last year, IBM is now among the top vendors with a 7% market share.  This puts IBM just behind HP (9%) and Agilent Technologies (12%).  While Spirent, JDSU and Vallent are at 4% each, Alcatel-Lucent and CA are at 3% each. These top eight make up 43% of the service assurance market. The remaining belong to some 30 small vendors or niche vendors with a non-significant share.

-Ends-

About SRIT
Sobha Renaissance Information Technology (SRIT) is a CMM Level 5 and SSE-CMM Level 5, global IT solutions company providing advanced, enterprise-class solutions to Fortune 500 companies. SRIT focuses on Application Software Development Services (hybrid onsite-offshore development model) across industry verticals, and productized solutions in the Healthcare, Telecoms and the Total Enterprise space. SRIT is a SOBHA Group Enterprise.   

For more information, please visit www.renaissance-it.com.

SRIT - Safe Harbour
Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects and our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions are forward looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding our ability to integrate and manage acquired IT professionals, our ability to integrate acquired assets in a cost effective and timely manner, fluctuations in earnings, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, , liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which SRIT has made strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. SRIT may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward looking statements. SRIT does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company.

For more information please contact:
SRIT
Ajay Chanam
Phone: +91 9980134436
E-mail: ajay.chanam@renaissance-it.com

Objective Systems Integrators, Inc. (OSI)
Randy Custeau
Vice President-Sales & Marketing; Member of the Board, OSI
Email: randy_custeau@agilent.com

© Press Release 2007

 

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