Acision

Acision was a privately held British mobile communications network infrastructure company engaged in messaging and charging systems that enable popular services such as Short message service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), mobile internet browsing, mobile broadband, and voicemail. In particular, Acision specialised in providing IP messaging to over-the-top media services and other enterprises.[1]

Acision
TypePrivate
IndustryMobile communications
PredecessorAldiscon, CMG
Founded2007
FateAcquired by Comverse, Inc. in 2015 (later became Xura, then Mavenir)
HeadquartersReading, Berkshire, UK
Key people
  • Lawrence Quinn, Founder
  • Didier Bench, Executive chairman
  • Adolfo Hernandez, CEO
Products
  • Data services
  • Data control
  • Data charging
RevenueUS$0.5 billion
Number of employees
1,100 (2013)
WebsiteAcision

Acision was founded in 2007 as a spin-off of the wireless networks business from LogicaCMG.[2] It existed as an independent, private company until it was purchased by Comverse, Inc. in 2015.[3]

Background

Acision's roots lie in two companies:

  1. The Wireless Data Services (WDS) division of Anglo-Dutch consultancy and telecommunications company CMG, the first to develop a Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) in 1992 which was first deployed in 1993. CMG WDS also developed UCP/EMI, a protocol primarily used to connect to short message service centres (SMSCs).
  2. The Irish mobile telecommunications pioneers Aldiscon, the first to commercially deploy an SMSC, Telepath, and its now standardized protocol SMPP in 1993.

Aldiscon's first deployment of its Telepath SMSC was with TeliaSonera in Sweden in 1993,[4] followed by Fleet Call (now Nextel) in the US, Telenor in Norway and BT Cellnet (now O2 UK) later in 1993. In 1997, Aldiscon was acquired by UK-based Logica, which merged with CMG in 2002 to form LogicaCMG. Both companies' wireless divisions merged into LogicaCMG Wireless Networks.

History

Acision was born on 20 February 2007, when LogicaCMG Wireless Networks was sold for £265m (US$525m) to private investors Atlantic Bridge Ventures and Access Industries and became known as Acision.[2] The Times wrote that the new entity was "the world's largest provider of the software, hardware and integration services that form the infrastructure behind SMS text messages".[2] The lead investor at Atlantic Bridge (who became executive chairman at Acision), Laurence Quinn, had been one of the founders of Aldiscon.[5]

As of 2008, Acision had over 300 mobile operators[6][7] as customers. Acision claimed to serve over a billion end users, and that over 50 per cent of SMS revenue was generated through its platforms. The company employed approximately 1,500 people in 22 countries.[8] Acision was considered one of the industry leaders in providing an MMS delivery platform to content provides, marketing providers, and the like.[9]

In June 2015, it was announced that Acision was being acquired by Comverse, Inc. for a combination of cash and stock values at between $135 and $210 million.[1][3] Soon after the acquisition, Comverse changed its name to Xura.[10]

References
  1. Thomas, Sarah (16 June 2015). "Comverse Shells Out $135M for Acision". New York: Light Reading.
  2. Blakely, Rhys (20 February 2007). "LogicaCMG to return £130m after telecoms sale". The Times. London.
  3. "Comverse acquires UK co Acision for $210m". Globes. Rishon LeZion. 15 June 2015.
  4. First commercial deployment of Text Messaging (SMS)
  5. "Mighty Quinn back on top at Logica", Mobile Europe, Feb. 2007
  6. Salesforce - Dutch report on Acision becoming a Salesforce.com customer
  7. Salesforce - Google translation of report on Acision becoming a Salesforce.com customer
  8. Access Industries - Acision
  9. John Arnold; Ian Lurie; Marty Dickinson; Elizabeth Marsten; Michael Becker (2009). Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies. Wiley. ISBN 9780470483664.
  10. "Comverse – no, not the shoe guys – changes name to Xura". Betaboston.com. 9 September 2015.
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