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Unified Communications
Q & A
UC Mag
Paula Bernier
Executive Editor,

IP Communications Magazines

60 Seconds with Tony Holcombe
President and CEO, Syniverse Technologies

Syniverse has worked behind the scenes for more than 20 years to enable mobile communications by simplifying the complexity in mobile networks for roaming, messaging, billing, number portability and more. But the company has a broad collection of products and customers, and it's expanding on that through the recently announced acquisition of VeriSign's messaging business.




 

PB: For those not familiar with Syniverse, tell us about the company.

 

TH: Essentially, we sit as a trusted intermediary between mobile service providers and allow disparate technologies and standards to interoperate within and between mobile networks.

 

Our more than 650 customers in over 120 countries include mobile operators as well as new entrants to the mobile space such as cable operators, ISPs and social networking providers.Also, our recently announced intention to acquire the messaging business of VeriSign will give us a solution set to serve enterprise customers, ultimately allowing us to serve an expanded customer base that includes select verticals, such as the financial, travel and hospitality, shipping and logistics, and utility and government sectors.

 

PB: Syniverse in August announced plans to acquire VeriSign's messaging business for around $175 million. What is the rationale behind this deal?

 

TH: This acquisition will give us the opportunity to build our business globally in one of the fastest-growing segments of communications - mobile messaging. When the transaction is finalized, Syniverse will have the scale and reach to better offer a comprehensive suite of advanced messaging services on a global basis to any operator or enterprise of any size - large or small.The deal will bring us a high-quality organization with proven operations as well as more than 300 highly skilled employees around the world, including a strong presence in India that will help us expand our strategic plans in that important market.

 

PB: What new product sets will the VeriSign deal allow Syniverse to bring into the fold?

 

TH: The Inter-Carrier Messaging Gateway solution gives operators the ability to deliver inter-carrier, person-to-person SMS and MMS messages across geographies and technologies. Although the inter-carrier messaging services offered by VeriSign and Syniverse are essentially the same, we each bring unique elements to the deal. By combining our two businesses, we will gain market reach, operating scale, cost efficiencies, and the necessary resources to invest in R&D and accelerate time to market for new products. We also will create a viable vendor alternative for operators and others who are looking for advanced messaging services.

 

PictureMail is an MMS platform that includes a Hosted MMS Center (MMSC) for MMS routing, handset photo applications, a social networking interface called Xoomerang, and photo storage and sharing capabilities.

 

Premium Messaging Gateway is a solution that gives operators the ability to manage delivery of off-portal, or third-party, mobile content to subscribers.

 

Mobile Enterprise Solutions is a portfolio of messaging solutions that operators can offer to their high-value enterprise customers. This solution also provides timely, reliable and secure delivery of SMS and MMS

 

PB: How is Syniverse faring financially in this difficult economy?

 

TH: As expected, we are not immune to the global economic situation and, as a result, have seen some slowing in the growth of global roaming volumes. However, our second quarter 2009 financial results show that our transaction-based business continues to perform well, and we enjoy a solid operating environment as mobile data use continues to grow with the proliferation of smart devices and explosion in customer usage, even in this challenging environment.

 

We also have a robust product pipeline and a strong 98 percent customer contract renewal rate, and our proactive cost management efforts have supported our ability to drive margins and maintain strong cash flow. We also believe we will see opportunities from an expanding customer market as Internet providers, cable operators and others outside the traditional mobile space turn to us to provide the interconnection and services they need as they move into the mobile space.

 

PB: How does unified communications figure into what Syniverse offers?

 

TH: We are seeing some interesting unified communications applications coming along. One area in which we think Syniverse can add tremendous value is by integrating presence into the mix. Right now, individual presence information is found in many places and in many forms, including social networking sites, wireless network location and desktop IM client availability. When all these disparate pieces of information are married to new applications, we think unified communications will really take off. Through our Syniverse NEXT Advanced Messaging Hub, we offer a way to bring together via a single hub all these different aspects of an individual's presence so that they can be presentedin a unified, controlled and meaningful way.

 







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