Today the company announced the acquisition of OpenPlug, a French company specializing in cross-platform development tools for mobile devices. OpenPlug’s flagship product, ELIPS Studio, fulfills the developer’s dream of “write once, run everywhere” (hmmm, have we heard that somewhere else before?) when it comes to mobile applications.

Alcatel-Lucent wants to remind you that this is the second acquisition in recent months — in June it scooped up ProgrammableWeb, a site dedicated to Web APIs. And who can forget ALU’s foray into the cool and hip with its participation in SXSW 2010? Is ALU seeking to be the Microsoft of the telecom space?

It’s obvious that it wants attention from today’s mobile-savvy developers. With OpenPlug, ALU can now offer a development tool for its customers to create enterprise apps with less hassle. However, there’s one thing that’s missing: no support for RIM Blackberry? Kudos for supporting bleeding edge mobile OSes like Android and Apple iOS (iPhone and iPad), but I want to know why Windows Mobile is supported but not Blackberry? Walk into any sizable company these days, and about 90% of the time you’d find more employees with BBs than WinMos.

I certainly hope Blackberry support is on the road map. What easier way to make inroads into the enterprise mobile market, right? Perhaps Crackberrys mainly reside in the U.S. and not so much in France or the rest of Europe? But if ALU is eying the American enterprise market, there’s absolutely no excuse not to hold hands with the Blackberry platform…

Press release from ALU:

Paris, September 1, 2010 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has acquired OpenPlug, a mobile software and applications development tools vendor. Through this acquisition, Alcatel-Lucent deepens its role in the applications space by delivering, as part of its integrated suite of developer tools, a platform where application developers can write an application once, which will then be translated to run on any of the five major mobile operating systems. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Alcatel-Lucent can now extend OpenPlug’s functionality to service providers, enterprises and developers so they can create and deploy applications — in virtually record time and without sacrificing the unique customer experience — across multiple mobile devices and within service provider app stores. As a result, applications that had previously only been available on more sophisticated devices such as smartphones, can now be enjoyed by consumers on any mobile device, which opens up opportunities in emerging markets, where low cost mobile phone circulation is highest.

This is the second acquisition Alcatel-Lucent has made over the past three months to expand and enhance the application ecosystem. In June, the company acquired ProgrammableWeb, the technology industry’s go-to source of API-related content.

“While demand for mobile apps is peaking, so is the fragmentation of mobile development platforms and tools,” said Michael Cote, analyst for Redmonk. “This makes it very expensive to target all devices and can lead to putting all your eggs in one, often tightly controlled basket, like Apple’s, or doing a least-common denominator, mobile web app that can’t benefit from full native device access. A tool that can target all platforms is hugely needed in this space, and OpenPlug should work well with the total mobile app development portfolio Alcatel-Lucent is putting together.”

Thanks to OpenPlug, service providers, enterprises and developers do not have to be selective about which of the many mobile platforms they will write applications for, thus limiting their potential for service adoption and revenue potential. OpenPlug’s mobile software turns every device into a smart device. It allows developers to write applications once and convert application code into native software that runs on any leading mobile device operating system, including iPhone®, Android®, Symbian®, Windows Mobile®, and Linux®.

“Being able to provide more applications across multiple devices helps service providers significantly broaden their app store content to create more value for consumers,” said Laura Merling, vice president of Alcatel-Lucent’s global developer strategy. “As service providers typically offer multiple mobile devices to their subscriber base, the OpenPlug software can help them get to market five times faster by allowing them to easily port an application to all of their devices. And this isn’t purely a mobile play — the software can be extended to support application development for IPTV set top boxes, game consoles, even the ng Connect LTE Connected Car.”

“Deploying valuable web and mobile services requires assembling many different pieces from many horizons,” said Eric Baissus, CEO of OpenPlug. “By combining OpenPlug’s ELIPS Suite and ELIPS Studio technologies with Alcatel-Lucent’s platforms and API services, we enable developers and service providers to gather all these pieces in a very efficient and consistent way. This will dramatically facilitate the deployment and the monetization of the new generation of applications that the market is expecting.”

The OpenPlug toolset will be incorporated into Alcatel-Lucent’s Developer Platform and Open API Service, thus broadening the functionality available to service providers, enterprises and developers for the exposure of network assets and the rapid introduction of new services across mobile and Web domains.

The move advances Alcatel-Lucent’s Application Enablement strategy, which is focused on combining the trusted and secure network capabilities of service providers with the speed and innovation of the Web to provide a richer end-user experience.

About OpenPlug
OpenPlug is a software provider specialized in mobile telephony and commercializes under the ELIPS name a range of patented technologies that facilitate the development of mobile phones, smartphones and the applications that run on them. ELIPS Studio offers the first open software development environment allowing Independent software vendors (ISVs) to create and deploy simultaneously in record time their mobile applications on iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Linux and other proprietary systems. ELIPS Suite is a white-label application suite that facilitates the design of mass-market mobile phones and ships in millions of Tier-1 mobile phones worldwide. OpenPlug products are used by leaders of the mobile industry such as Sony Ericsson, Intel Corporation, Arima Communications, Foxconn, as well as thousands of application developers. Founded in 2002, OpenPlug is based in Sophia Antipolis – France. For more information, visit OpenPlug’s corporate website at www.openplug.com or the ELIPS Studio Developer Zone at http://developer.openplug.com. (iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile and Linux are registered trademarks of their respective owners.)

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted transformation partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries such as defense, energy, healthcare, transportation, and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP and optics technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 15.2 billion in 2009 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet:http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.

Contact the Alcatel-Lucent Press Office: press@alcatel-lucent.com

Consider this: Phoenix-based Teleku started in January 2010, went private beta in February, became publicly accessible in March, picked up by TechCrunch in April, and acquired by Voxeo in August. So not even six months as a publicized startup, Teleku has been absorbed into one of the premier Web/cloud telephony companies.

Mark Headd on his Vox Populi blog shares his insight about the trend:

Portability – underscored not only by Teleku’s support for the open standard VoiceXML, but also the Tropo crew’s involvement in the Asterisk world, and the defacto standard for building Asterisk apps in Ruby - Adhearsion.

SIP integration – remember this kids: true cloud telephony has SIP baked in – the rest is just marketing fluff. Both Tropo and Teleku support SIP interoperability and make it very easy for developers to use SIP as part of their applications.

Multi-channel / multi-modality – Both Tropo and Teleku have big multi-modal chops. Being able to interact with users on multiple communication channels from one code base is a key tenant of unified communications and cloud telephony, and this will become increasingly important in the future.

Speech recognition – cloud telephony isn’t your grandfather’s way to build a phone app, so why should users be restricted to their grandfather’s way of interacting with a phone app? Speech recognition is fully supported in both Tropo and Teleku, and this will matter more and more to cloud telephony developers going forward.

This trend is undeniable. As I’ve blogged before, the new generation of telephony apps will be created by developers comfortable with mashups, Web standards, and scripting languages. So what movements can we expect going forward and from this acquisition?

Obviously, all eyes are on Twilio, the biggest competitor to Voxeo-backed Tropo. There’s a tweet that stood out to me, by @christoffe, which alleged that Twilio wanted to buy Teleku but “didn’t move fast enough.” Teleku founder Chris Matthieu confirmed that he did meet with the three cofounders of Twilio in San Francisco. But alas, Twilio and Teleku were not meant to be together.

Twilio has some good and well-known DNA in its leadership. It lists Dave McClure of Founder’s Fund and Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures as board directors, two VC names that need no further introduction. Other notable investors listed on CrunchBase include Mitch Kapor (of Lotus fame) and Chris Sacca (one of the first investors in Twitter). Total funding dated 12/2009: $3.7 million. No chump change, but now it has to face Voxeo’s $9 million (at least).

Will Twilio look for an exit? Obviously it understands the need to create a stronger organization with its interest in Teleku. Now it definitely needs a partner that is deep in telecom yet focused on the Web transformation. One company that comes to mind is Alcatel-Lucent, a company that’s made some interesting moves recently too, such as acquiring ProgrammableWeb.

Of course, there’s no telling which company Voxeo may gobble up next to change the game again.

The acquisition makes a lot of sense since Teleku is already using Voxeo technology. But I think Voxeo was looking beyond the semi-competitive technology and wanted founder Chris Matthieu to be part of the Voxeo/Tropo team. After all, Matthieu was the sole founder of Teleku and worked tirelessly to grow the product and a loyal following quickly in its young lifespan.

According to Om, Chris Matthieu will join Orland-based Voxeo as Director of Business Development. Here’s an interview of Matthieu for the latest Voxeo Emerging TechTalk episode.

Matthieu summed it up nicely in a tweet: “…Teleku was a Voxeo customer and Tropo competitor – Now it’s a serious Twilio liability.” Watch out, Twilio, and congratulations to both Voxeo and Teleku.

Future (it’s dated 8/12) press release from Voxeo:

Orlando, FL – August 12, 2010 — Today Voxeo Corporation, the leader in Unlocked Communications™, announced it has acquired Teleku, a startup enabling web developers to build powerful voice and SMS applications. Teleku founder Chris Matthieu will join the Voxeo Labs team to focus on business development and enterprise adoption of Voxeo’s Tropo cloud communications service.

Teleku provides a platform for web developers to create voice and text-based communications applications using common web programming languages. Hundreds of developers have used Teleku to build applications including outbound notification systems, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), real estate talking houses, language translators, driving directions, games, and more.

Using any Web programming language, developers send XML or JSON instructions to Teleku over HTTP. These instructions tell the Teleku platform how to interact with users, and can use industry-standard VoiceXML, Twilio-proprietary TwiML, or Teleku’s PhoneML formats. The Teleku platform then interacts with users via voice calls, text-messaging (SMS), or Instant Messaging (IM). Teleku Voice applications can make use of both automatic speech recognition (ASR) in multiple languages or touch-tone/DTMF input. Teleku Text-messaging works with any SMS capable phone. Teleku Instant Messaging works with AOL, Cisco Jabber/XMPP, Microsoft MSN, and Yahoo IM clients.

Voxeo Labs is the innovation, incubation, and open-source focused R&D division of Voxeo. Voxeo is a profitable, employee-owned company that began building the largest world-wide communications application cloud in 1999. Voxeo’s cloud platform includes seven hosting facilities in the US, EU, and Asia and is used by half of the Fortune 100 and over 150,000 developers. Voxeo Labs’ Tropo service leverages the Voxeo Cloud to deliver reliable, mission-critical infrastructure for its customers.

Teleku was already a Voxeo customer using Voxeo’s proven real-time cloud infrastructure to deliver services and connect to voice, SIP, Skype, SMS, and IM infrastructure. Teleku will be combined with Voxeo’s Tropo (http://tropo.com) service. Existing Tropo and Teleku applications will continue to run without modification on the combined solution.

“Teleku shows how Voxeo’s cloud platform enables extremely rapid design, deployment, and scalability of new services that can respond quickly to changing developer and enterprise requirements,” said Teleku founder Chris Matthieu, “I’m excited to join Voxeo and help accelerate the adoption of the Tropo cloud communications service. Tropo enables both innovative web developers and enterprise call centers to deliver automated communications applications quickly and easily, and is an amazingly simple platform anyone can use to build multi-channel communications apps that leverage voice, SMS, IM, web and social channels like Twitter.”

“Voxeo has been making a concerted effort to provide multichannel development tools and solutions to their partners and enterprise customers. This is especially important as consumers from all walks of life adapt new devices and endpoints through which to communicate. It’s no secret that SMS is now one of the most frequently-used channels among younger consumers. Moreover, we’re seeing significant uptake of IM and Twitter as channels through which consumers interact with enterprises. Voxeo’s stack just got more powerful.”, says Ryan Joe, Associate Analyst on Ovum’s Customer Interaction team.

The Tropo.com cloud communications service is the flagship product of Voxeo Labs. Launched in 2009, thousands of developers have used Tropo to build applications that use voice, SMS, instant messaging and social channels to solve real business problems and create superior customer experiences. Tropo supports automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text-to-speech (TTS) in 8 languages, inbound phone numbers in over 30 countries, international outbound dialing, support for communication via Twitter and voice integration with traditional phones, SIP VoIP, and Skype.

“Voxeo’s mission has always been to make communication application development and deployment unlocked and uncomplicated for everyone,” said Jonathan Taylor, CEO of Voxeo. “Our focus on open standards and open source removes vendor lock-in. Our focus on the consumerization of IT and free services for developers and trials removes complexity. Chris and Teleku clearly share our vision. We are delighted to welcome Teleku to the Voxeo family.”

More information about Teleku, Tropo and how to get started with free developer accounts can be found at: http://www.tropo.com/telekufaq

About Voxeo

Voxeo unlocks communications. We loathe the locks that make voice, SMS, instant messaging, Twitter, web chat, and mobile web unified communication and self-service applications difficult to create, manage, analyze, optimize and afford. Every day we work to unlock the neglected value of these communications solutions with open standards, disruptive innovation and a passion for problem solving–fueled by a company-wide obsession with customer success. We do so for more than 100,000 developers, 45,000 companies and half of the Fortune 100 from our headquarters in Orlando, Beijing, Cologne, and London. Visit us or join our conversations on the web atwww.voxeo.com, blogs.voxeo.com, or twitter.com/voxeo.

Voxeo Media Contact

Megan Maxwell
Voxeo Corporation
Phone: +1 (407) 455-5848
megan@voxeo.com

It wasn’t too long ago that West scooped up Holly Connects, an IVR platform provider which I think wasn’t doing too well, either. While the Holly Connects acquisition was a platform play, today’s buyout of TuVox appears to complement it with a portfolio of on-demand IVR solutions and IVR applications.

I suppose West has done well in identifying buying opportunities, especially in this distressed economy, and using its cash wisely to expand its products and services. Could it be the Oracle of Omaha in the contact center industry?

Press release:

OMAHA, Neb., July 22, 2010 – West Interactive, a leading provider of hosted and managed automated customer contact solutions, today announced it has acquired TuVox, a premier provider of on-demand speech and IVR applications.

TuVox has pioneered a unique agile development methodology for speech applications that can yield a superior caller experience in less time and with less risk when detailed requirements are difficult to specify in advance. “TuVox collaborates closely with our clients throughout the development process,” said Mark Lazar, CEO of TuVox. “We find this allows us to better understand their fundamental business needs and respond with creative solutions that produce great results from the start.”

TuVox constructs applications using proprietary development tools that address all aspects of the application lifecycle, from initial design through ongoing operations and tuning. The tool set includes features often sought by clients, including support for the leading VoiceXML platforms, a replaceable runtime component, and a multi-tenanted administration console for configuration and reporting. The addition of TuVox to the West Interactive Hosted IVR platform enhances the current best-in-class applications that optimize the results of our clients businesses.

“We are extremely impressed with the TuVox staff and their ability to rapidly deploy a high-quality application even when clients had difficulty articulating their precise requirements,” said Pam Mortenson, President of West Interactive. “We believe this capability combined with our best-in-class platform and scale will create a truly unique solution that will be particularly beneficial when working with clients on cutting-edge applications.”

West does not expect results from TuVox to have a material impact to its 2010 financial results.

About West Interactive:
West Interactive is a leading provider of hosted and managed automated customer contact solutions. We help our clients connect with their customers more effectively, deliver superior service and maximize the value of every customer interaction. We provide advanced technologies and a highly scalable standards-based infrastructure to help businesses more efficiently conduct multi-media transactions. We have the people, technology and experience to handle the simplest or most complex solutions. Services include custom speech applications, customer surveys, network based call routing and analytic services.

West Interactive, a subsidiary of West Corporation, is located in Omaha, Nebraska, and serves Fortune 1000 clients in nearly every vertical market. For more information, please call 1-800-841-9000 or visit www.westinteractive.com.

About West Corporation
West Corporation is a leading provider of technology-driven, voice-oriented solutions. West offers its clients a broad range of communications and infrastructure management solutions that help them manage or support critical communications. West’s customer contact solutions and conferencing services are designed to improve its clients’ cost structure and provide reliable, high-quality services. West also provides mission-critical services, such as public safety and emergency communications.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, West serves Fortune 1000 companies and other clients in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, banking, retail, financial, technology and healthcare. West has sales and operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America. For more information on West Corporation, please call 1-800-841-9000 or visit www.west.com.

About TuVox
TuVox provides mission critical IVR hosting and managed services to companies who envision voice automation as a strategic part of their customer experience. Since 2000, TuVox has become synonymous with superior caller experience. Throughout its history, TuVox has delivered IVR solutions that have both revolutionized how people use the phone and mobile devices to access information, solve problems and transact business and have achieved the expected business outcome for its clients. TuVox On Demand applications are available as configurable solutions for industries such as banking, financial services, insurance, communications, consumer electronics, technology, utilities, entertainment, healthcare, publishing, retail and travel.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “intends,” “continue” or similar terminology. These statements reflect only West’s current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance or results. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the effects of global economic trends on the businesses of West’s clients; competition in West’s highly competitive industries; West’s ability to keep pace with its clients’ needs for rapid technological change and systems availability; the loss, financial difficulties or bankruptcy of any key clients; the non-exclusive nature of West’s client contracts and the absence of revenue commitments; increases in the cost of voice and data services or significant interruptions in these services; the cost of pending and future litigation; extensive regulation affecting many of West’s businesses; security and privacy breaches of the systems West uses to protect personal data; West’s ability to protect its proprietary information or technology; the cost of defending West against intellectual property infringement claims; service interruptions to West’s data and operation centers; West’s ability to retain key personnel and attract a sufficient number of qualified employees; increases in labor costs and turnover rates; the political, economic and other conditions in the countries where West operates; and West’s ability to complete future acquisitions and integrate or achieve the objectives of its recent and future acquisitions. West is also subject to other risk factors described in documents filed by the company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which the statements were made. West undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

Media Contact:
Mack McKenzie
402-963-1324

Official press release:

Paris June 29, 2010 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has acquired ProgrammableWeb, the technology industry’s universal source for Web APIs (application programming interfaces) used by application developers to build web, mobile, and other connected applications that serve consumers and the workplace.  Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Web APIs enable developers to create new applications leveraging various kinds of content and functionality.  Alcatel-Lucent’s acquisition of ProgrammableWeb will help bring together an ecosystem of service providers, enterprises, and developers to drive the creation of unique applications today and in the new world of broadband mobile through LTE.

ProgrammableWeb will continue to operate as a separate entity, maintaining its repository of over 2,000 Web APIs which are regularly accessed by a community of hundreds of thousands of developers, and continuing its role as the industry’s most comprehensive content source for Web services development.  Alcatel-Lucent will provide support and resources to promote the continued and robust growth of the API and developer ecosystem, and facilitate service providers’ participation within that ecosystem.

For Alcatel-Lucent this acquisition provides an important new channel to partner with the Web developer community – a dialog it has started with its Open API Service and Developer Platform.  It also gives Alcatel-Lucent access to general API usage patterns, allowing it to build highly relevant API bundles for its Open API Service. ProgrammableWeb’s API monitoring services, API trial services, and automated API updates will be integrated into Alcatel-Lucent’s Developer Platform. In addition, Alcatel-Lucent will be able to share its developer resources, such as its dashboard that helps developers track application monetization, with ProgrammableWeb’s developer community.

“If you look at any organization that launches an API, you quickly realize that the one thing the most successful APIs have in common is a vibrant developer ecosystem,” said Laura Merling, vice president of Alcatel-Lucent’s global developer strategy.  “Our goal is to protect the uniqueness and independence of ProgrammableWeb as an API repository and developer resource, while adding beneficial technologies and service provider relationships to the mix for everyone’s benefit.”

This move advances Alcatel-Lucent’s Application Enablement strategy, which is focused on combining the trusted and secure network capabilities of service providers with the speed and creativity of the Web to provide a richer end-user experience.

“ProgrammableWeb has always sought to put developers first, by giving them the most timely and comprehensive picture of everything related to APIs,” said John Musser, ProgrammableWeb founder who is moving to Alcatel-Lucent, but will continue to oversee the repository’s operation.  “That mission will be strengthened and expanded by joining forces with Alcatel-Lucent.  As APIs become more central to software strategies in all domains, we’ll make ProgrammableWeb an even better one-stop independent source.”

About ProgrammableWeb

ProgrammableWeb is the leading online destination dedicated to mashups, APIs and the Web as a development platform. Founded in 2005, ProgrammableWeb offers the Internet’s largest directory of Web 2.0 APIs and mashups. With over 2,000 open APIs and thousands of real-world mashups, users can search, contribute, and connect as part of ProgrammableWeb’s active mashup developer community. The site also offers daily industry news, analysis, case studies, tools and technical resources. Regularly featured in major publications worldwide, including Forbes, Newsweek and CIO, ProgrammableWeb is a recognized industry authority. For more information, visit www.programmableweb.com.

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted transformation partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries such as defense, energy, healthcare, transportation, and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP and optics technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 15.2 billion in 2009 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet:http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.

Contact the Alcatel-Lucent Press Office: press@alcatel-lucent.com

This acquisition will make the NICE SmartCentre even more effective with eglue’s real-time decisioning and guidance engine. The technology will provide contact center agents with the “next best move” in terms of interacting with a customer, thereby maximizing the return potential on each customer interaction. Sounds a bit creepy? Turning agents into drones at the command of a piece of software? Which brings up a good question: Do companies hire contact center agents to think, or simply let the software do the thinking?

To the company I can understand how having good analytics software and have agents follow the its guidance may prove to save money and provide a more consistent customer experience. Obviously many Fortune companies are clients of NICE and eglue, so they must be doing something right. However, if the future of customer interaction is heavily systemized via software, then why do we have agents at all? Are we entering an era where human agents provide little to no value, except for a minority that complains about missing the “human touch” when dealing with companies?

Anyway, I digress. Official press release here:

RA’ANANA, ISRAEL, June 10, 2010 NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE), a leading global provider of intent-based solutions that enable enterprises and security organizations to extract Insight from Interactions, transactions and surveillance to drive business performance, reduce risk and ensure safety, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acq uire eglue, a leading provider of real-time decisioning and guidance solutions. NICE customers will benefit from the strategic expansion of the company’s enterprise contact center and back office offering, enhancing and further impacting compliance adherence, operational efficiency, customer experience and sales and marketing effectiveness , enabling their organization to become more customer-centric.

Under the terms of the agreement, NICE will be acquiring the company for a total cash consideration of approximately $29 million. The transaction price may be increased by up to an additional $6 million, subject to certain performance criteria.

The combination of eglue’s leading real-time decisioning and guidance capabilities and the NICE SmartCenter suite of intent-based business solutions will enable contact centers to harness Customer Dynamics, turning insights from cross-channel customer interactions into business impact in real time. For example, an agent servicing a customer that has previously called the contact center regarding the same issue will receive a real-time alert about the customer’s sequence of prior interactions across the different communication channels (web, chat, text, etc.) and be presented with all the necessary information and steps to efficiently resolve the customer issue. Furthermore, the agent will be provided with personalized real-time guidance to leverage and act upon cross-sell or up-sell opportunities.

“A major trend that will dominate customer service strategies over the next five years is providing contact center agents a combination of business rules and business knowledge in real time,” said Michael Maoz, Research Vice President at analyst and advisory firm Gartner. “The ability to impact interactions based on analysis of the most relevant customer and interaction data is key to delivering an excellent customer experience.”

eglue’s capabilities will also significantly extend NICE’s ability to address workforce efficiency, effectiveness, and compliance adherence in back office operations.

Founded in 2001, eglue is headquartered in the US, with offices in Israel and Europe. Its solutions have been installed at dozens of customer sites worldwide, including first-tier telecom carriers, and financial services, retail, travel and utility companies.

“Joining NICE is an important and exciting step for eglue and its customers,” said Omer Geva, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, eglue. “Together, we’ll expand our global outreach to support the evolving needs of customers in both the contact center and back office arena worldwide. Being a part of NICE will enable us to provide unmatched capabilities to our customers by addressing their most pressing business challenges.”

The joint eglue-NICE SmartCenter solutions close the loop on key business improvement processes required by enterprises worldwide, turning business insights into impact in real time. Together, we will further advance NICE’s innovative Customer Dynamics strategy to improve the complex, ongoing exchange between companies and their customers, as companies strive to gain a competitive edge, retain satisfied and loyal customers, while operating in the most efficient and profitable manner,” said Zeevi Bregman, President and Chief Executive Officer, NICE Systems. “We are excited about the many opportunities presented by this strategic move. With eglue’s real-time decisioning and guidance offering, we augment our intent-based business solutions — a major growth driver for NICE — as well as extend our reach into back office operations, which today is a significant and underserved market. We expect that the addition of eglue will contribute to NICE’s growth and profitability in the years to come. We look forward to having eglue’s strong management and professional teams join NICE.”

The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and is anticipated to close during the third quarter of 2010.

Following closing and as a result of the acquisition, NICE expects to generate additional non-GAAP revenues of several million dollars in 2010 and to be slightly dilutive on a non-GAAP earning per fully diluted share basis in each of the last two quarters of 2010. Furthermore, the acquisition is expected to become accretive on a non-GAAP earnings per fully diluted share basis in the first quarter of 2011. These estimates exclude acquisition related expenses and amortization of acquired intangible assets as well as certain business combination costs.

.

About eglue
eglue is a global provider of unique solutions that maximize the return on every customer interaction. The eglue solution impacts the bottom and top lines in the contact center by reducing operational expenses, generating new revenue and retaining customers, all in real time. eglue increases business and IT agility, and ensures a quick return on investment (ROI). Founded in 2001 by Moshe Avlagon and Omer Geva, eglue is headquartered in Hoboken, NJ, with offices in the UK and Israel and serves Fortune 500 companies worldwide. More information on eglue can be found at  www.eglue.com.

About NICE SmartCenter
NICE SmartCenter is the premier solution suite for helping companies optimizeCustomer Dynamics , with unique capabilities for capturing customer and organizationintent, analyzing interactions and transactions for insight, and generating impact on the interaction and the business. NICE SmartCenter includes pre-packaged business solutions that address specific business issues, powered by best-in-class functional components spanning call recording , quality management , workforce management,cross-channel interaction analytics , including speech analytics , real-time guidance, and   performance management . The business solutions capture, analyze and impact customer interactions in real time, across a variety of channels, from audio, email and chat to social media and text messaging.  The solutions include nine packaged offerings: Customer Churn Reduction , Sales Effectiveness , Customer Experience ,Marketing Effectiveness , Collections Optimization , Quality Optimization, First Contact Resolution Optimization , Average Handle Time Optimization , and Compliance Management .  These solutions can be deployed on premise, in a hosted model, or via a managed service , and can be implemented stand-alone or fully integrated with customer relationship management and business intelligence solutions.

About NICE Systems
NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE) is the leading provider of Insight from Interactions solutions and value-added services, powered by advanced analytics of unstructured multimedia content – from telephony, web, radio and video communications. NICE’s solutions address the needs of the enterprise and security markets, enabling organizations to operate in an insightful and proactive manner, and take immediate action to improve business and operational performance and ensure safety and security. NICE has over 24,000 customers in more than 150 countries, including more than 80 of the Fortune 100 companies. More information is available athttp://www.nice.com.

Trademark Note: 360° View, Alpha, ACTIMIZE, Actimize logo, Customer Feedback, Dispatcher Assessment, Encorder, eNiceLink, Executive Connect, Executive Insight, FAST, FAST alpha Blue, FAST alpha Silver, FAST Video Security, Freedom, Freedom Connect, IEX, Interaction Capture Unit, Insight from Interactions, Investigator, Last Message Replay, Mirra, My Universe, NICE, NICE logo, NICE Analyzer, NiceCall, NiceCall Focus, NiceCLS, NICE Inform, NICE Learning, NiceLog, NICE Perform, NiceScreen, NICE SmartCenter, NICE Storage Center, NiceTrack, NiceUniverse, NiceUniverse Compact, NiceVision, NiceVision Alto, NiceVision Analytics, NiceVision ControlCenter, NiceVision Digital, NiceVision Harmony, NiceVision Mobile, NiceVision Net, NiceVision NVSAT, NiceVision Pro, Performix, Playback Organizer, Renaissance, Scenario Replay, ScreenSense, Tienna, TotalNet, TotalView, Universe, Wordnet are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NICE Systems Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Corporate Media:
Galit Belkind	NICE Systems	+1 877 245 7448
Investors:
Daphna Golden	NICE Systems	+1 877 245 7449

his press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, including the statements by Messer Bregman, are based on the current expectations of the management of NICE-Systems Ltd. (the Company) only, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results or performance of the Company to differ materially from those described herein, including but not limited to the impact of the global economic environment on the Company’s customer base (particularly financial services firms) and the resulting uncertainties; changes in technology and market requirements; decline in demand for the Company’s products; inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications; difficulties or delays in absorbing and integrating acquired operations, products, technologies and personnel; loss of market share; pressure on pricing resulting from competition; and inability to maintain certain marketing and distribution arrangements. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company, refer to the Company’s reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise them, except as required by law.

But after the high-profile acquisition, we just didn’t hear about Ribbit much. Rumors started swirling around about the buy — did BT make a mistake? Paid too much? Did it really understand Ribbit?

Wander no more. BT will roll Ribbit into its Onevoice business product as a beta product and hope to launch it by the end of 2010:

Ribbit provides not only a single number for incoming and outgoing calls, integrating with existing VoIP services where necessary, but also an open API. This allows companies to create their own applications for integrating with those cloud-based systems that are so popular these days.

BT also reckons companies can save a fortune by routing calls over VoIP connections when out of the office, and get access to the full exchange functionality too. So no excuses remain for failing to dial into the conference call while travelling.

Ribbit also integrates with mobiles, offering custom applications for the iPhone, among others, and is capable of integrating with any network and handling incoming and outgoing calls on any handset (using call forwarding).

Sounds like a pretty good voice product for business. Google has also mentioned previously about offering Google Voice for businesses, so let’s see which offering captures the fancy of business customers.

Related articles by Zemanta

• BT trials corporate ‘Skype’ (computing.co.uk)
• BT integrates Ribbit technology with Onevoice (newstatesman.com)

Last year it acquired Gizmo5 to get nice VOIP software on the Web, desktop, and mobile devices. I’m quite a fan of Gizmo5. Paired with Google Voice (let’s not forget its acquisition of GrandCentral, another major purchase in the communications space), I can make unlimited free VOIP calls.

On Tuesday we learned that the Big G just got bigger by gobbling up Global IP Solutions (aka GIPS) for $68 million in cash. Certainly not pocket change, but I think it’s worth every penny considering GIPS supplies the technologies to an impressive list of customers.

Hmmm, is there any doubt what Google is up to? GrandCentral + Gizmo5 + GIPS = ??? I know what you’re thinking: Google likes to buy companies that start with the letter ‘G’. Okay, wait, don’t get distracted by Google’s G-fetish…

…The word out on the streets is that Big G is ready to challenge Skype. The folks over at Skype must’ve sensed something wasn’t quite right because about the same time as the Google-GIPS news broke, Skype released news of two executive appointments — a Chief Legal Officer and a Chief Marketing Officer.

Coincidence? I think not!

Skype has become quite a force to be reckoned with in both the traditional telecom and IP communications markets. Geeks use it, traveling businessmen use it, grandmas use it, relief workers use it, journalists use it, dictators use it, and it wouldn’t be long before your dog starts using it too.

But I believe Google has a much bigger appetite than to just eat from Skype’s pie. Google has hinted previously to include Voice and Chat into its business offering, so with GIPS in its arsenal it can really make a splash in the B2B market. It’s not just Skype, but a couple of other West Coast goliaths, namely Cisco and Microsoft. The Big G has made Web search as simple as it is ubiquitous. Now it’s time for videoconferencing services.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Is Google Building a Skype Competitor? (mashable.com)
• Google Buys VOIP Service That Powers Some Yahoo, AOL Offerings (marketingpilgrim.com)
• Google’s VOIP buying spree continues with Global IP Solutions offer (engadget.com)

Not many people in the U.S. have heard of Boston-based Holly, but the company does enjoy more recognition in the APAC region as an open, standards-based voice platform provider. It tried and struggled to make inroads in the U.S. market but I don’t think it fared well — after all, it’s not easy going up against Avaya/Nortel, Cisco, Genesys, and Microsoft. I have heard previously that the company was looking for buyers, but never thought it would be sold to a company like West, mainly known as a service provider. Looks like West will be able to use its own voice platform for its customers soon instead of partnering with others.

The financial terms were not disclosed in the press release, but I’d venture a guess that West scooped up Holly at a decent price, considering it’s not considered a top-tier voice platform vendor and that the global economy is still stagnant. The good thing is that both companies have an international reach, so the acquisition bodes well for the combined customer base. To me the interesting aspect of this acquisition would be cultural: a Midwestern corporation gobbling up a New Englander. How well will the corporate cultures integrate? The press release also did not mention the roles of the existing Holly executive team when absorbed as part of West Communications Services. Will they remain at the helm or be replaced?

Official press release:

OMAHA, Neb., May 13, 2010 – West Corporation, a leading provider of technology-driven, voice-oriented solutions, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Holly Connects, a premier provider of carrier-grade voice platforms.

Holly Connects is headquartered in Boston with offices in London and Sydney, where the company was founded in 2000. Growing and profitable, the company pioneered the use of SIP signaling, VoIP telephony, speech recognition technology and the VoiceXML standard in platform infrastructure for caller self-service. Today’s Holly Voice Platform uniquely provides the high capacity, solid reliability and extensive multitenancy required by the most complex installations. Holly products are deployed by hosting providers, telecommunications carriers and large enterprises worldwide, including West Interactive.

“Working with Holly Connects for several years, we have been extremely impressed by the performance of their products and dedication of their staff,” said Pam Mortenson, President of West Interactive. “We view this acquisition as a superb opportunity to complement our current product and services portfolio, allowing West to address a broader market.”

Holly will become part of West’s Communications Services segment and will continue to sell its products and services to hosting providers, telecommunications and enterprise clients. West expects closing to occur in the second quarter of 2010 and does not expect results from Holly to have a material impact to its 2010 financial results.

“Many of our hosting clients and prospects have expressed an interest in having West Interactive manage additional, on-premise call traffic and applications to complement our hosting offering,” said Steve Stangl, President of West’s Communications Services operating segment. “Offering them the same Holly Voice Platform software used in our hosted services permits a seamless blending of operations and a natural extension of our professional services.”

“Holly Connects values customer service as the essential element in our corporate culture,” said Lance Berks, CEO of Holly Connects. “We are pleased to be joining an organization that shares our commitment to client and staff satisfaction, and that can provide the resources needed to accelerate our strategy for growth in North America.”

About West Corporation
West Corporation is a leading provider of technology-driven, voice-oriented solutions. West offers its clients a broad range of communications and infrastructure management solutions that help them manage or support critical communications. West’s customer contact solutions and conferencing services are designed to improve its clients’ cost structure and provide reliable, high-quality services. West also provides mission-critical services, such as public safety and emergency communications. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, West serves Fortune 1000 companies and other clients in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, banking, retail, financial, technology and healthcare. West has sales and operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America. For more information on West Corporation, please call 1-800-841-9000 or visit www.west.com.

About Holly Connects
Holly Connects is the fresh voice in voice platforms, delivering software for powerful yet cost-effective call handling to telecommunications carriers, hosted service providers, and large enterprises worldwide. Holly’s award-winning products provide a reliable foundation for delivering exceptional customer service by telephone. For more information please visit www.holly-connects.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “intends,” “continue” or similar terminology. These statements reflect only West’s current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance or results. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the effects of global economic trends on the businesses of West’s clients; competition in West’s highly competitive industries; West’s ability to keep pace with its clients’ needs for rapid technological change and systems availability; the loss, financial difficulties or bankruptcy of any key clients; the non-exclusive nature of West’s client contracts and the absence of revenue commitments; increases in the cost of voice and data services or significant interruptions in these services; the cost of pending and future litigation; extensive regulation affecting many of West’s businesses; security and privacy breaches of the systems West uses to protect personal data; West’s ability to protect its proprietary information or technology; the cost of defending West against intellectual property infringement claims; service interruptions to West’s data and operation centers; West’s ability to retain key personnel and attract a sufficient number of qualified employees; increases in labor costs and turnover rates; the political, economic and other conditions in the countries where West operates; and West’s ability to complete future acquisitions and integrate or achieve the objectives of its recent and future acquisitions. West is also subject to other risk factors described in documents filed by the company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which the statements were made. West undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

West Corporation
11808 Miracle Hills Drive
Omaha, NE 68154

Media Contact:
Mack McKenzie
402-963-1324

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 12, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Veraz Networks (VRAZ 1.12, +0.11, +10.89%) , a leading provider of bandwidth optimization and next generation switching products, and privately held Dialogic Corporation, a pioneer in enabling interactive mobile video services and applications, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to merge.

After closing, the name of the merged company will be Dialogic, and it will be a global leader in communications products and services to the telecommunications service provider and enterprise markets. The merged company is expected to be led by Nick Jensen as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (current Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Dialogic), and Doug Sabella as President and Chief Operating Officer (current Veraz President and Chief Executive Officer), with headquarters in San Jose, CA.

“While the capability of mobile networks around the world has been steadily expanding, the future will bring even greater demands on the networks due to the unprecedented growth in global mobile data and video traffic, “said Nick Jensen, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Dialogic. “By combining Dialogic’s proven expertise in application enablement for voice and video with Veraz’s leadership in voice, data, session control, security, and transport we will be creating a company with innovative products that will enable our customers to unleash the profit of video, voice and data for 3G/4G networks.”

Over 80% of the Fortune 2000 companies and service providers worldwide rely on Dialogic’s application-enabling technologies, putting Dialogic at the forefront of enabling high quality video on wireless and wireline networks. Today, over 130 service providers in over 80 countries rely on Veraz’s next generation switching and bandwidth optimization products and services to leverage the power of IP to deliver high quality voice and data services while lowering their operational and capital costs.

“The merger of Veraz and Dialogic will create a new and exciting company with the product portfolio and resources to be a true mission critical supplier to service providers,” said Doug Sabella, President and CEO of Veraz Networks. “The combination of Veraz’s direct global footprint and Dialogic’s channels will create a company of substantial size with global reach and resources, thus allowing our customers to be extremely confident when they choose to partner with us.”

Following the merger and subsequent integration of the two companies, on an annualized basis (after excluding adjustments to revenue and expenses under purchase accounting rules, transaction related costs and one-time charges), the merged company revenues are expected to be greater than $250 million with gross margins of 60-65% and EBITDA of 10-15% of revenues (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and stock compensation expenses and including expected operational cost synergies). The merged company will have a diverse customer base with no customer concentration.

Under the terms of the agreement, unanimously approved by each company’s Board of Directors, Veraz will issue shares of its common stock to each Dialogic shareholder so that following the closing of the transaction, Dialogic shareholders will own approximately 70% and Veraz shareholders will own approximately 30% of the merged company. For further information regarding the acquisition agreement, interested parties should refer to the Form 8-K filed by Veraz on or about this date. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2010, subject to regulatory approvals, shareholder approvals, and customary closing conditions.

Veraz is currently traded on NASDAQ and it is expected that the merged company will continue to be traded on NASDAQ. The merged company is expected to benefit from operational cost synergies and is expected to realize revenue synergies by combining complementary product portfolios, as well as by optimizing the established global sales and distribution channels.

Jefferies & Company, Inc. acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Dialogic, and Pagemill Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Veraz.

Veraz Networks and Dialogic will host a conference call for investors on May 13, 2010 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time which will also include forward-looking information. The webcast and a presentation regarding the merger will be available from the “Investor Relations” section of the Veraz website (www.veraznetworks.com). For parties in the United States and Canada, call 1-800-860-2442 to access the conference call. International parties can access the call at +1-412-858-4600.

The webcast will be archived for a period of 90 days. A telephonic replay of the conference call will also be available two hours after the call and will run for two days. To hear the replay, parties in the United States and Canada should call 1-877-344-7529 and enter passcode 60000#. International parties should call +1-412-317-0088 and enter passcode 60000#.

About Dialogic

Dialogic Corporation is a leading provider of world-class, innovative technologies based on open standards that enable innovative mobile, video, IP, and TDM solutions for Network Service Providers and Enterprise Communication Networks. Dialogic’s customers and partners rely on its leading-edge, flexible components to rapidly deploy value-added solutions around the world. Information about Dialogic is available at http://www.dialogic.com/. Also, join our social networking community, the Dialogic Exchange Network (DEN), at www.dialogic.com/den or visit our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages for additional Dialogic news and updates. Dialogic is a registered trademark of Dialogic Corporation.

About Veraz

Veraz Networks, Inc. (VRAZ 1.12, +0.11, +10.89%) , is the leading provider of application, control, and bandwidth optimization products that enable the evolution to the Multimedia Generation Network (MGN). Service providers worldwide use the Veraz MGN portfolio to extend their current application suite and rapidly add customized multimedia services that drive revenue and ensure customer retention. The Veraz MGN separates the control, media, and application layers while unifying management of the network, thereby increasing service provider operating efficiency. Wireline and wireless service providers in over 60 countries have deployed products from the Veraz MGN portfolio, which includes the ControlSwitch(TM), Network-adaptive Border Controller, I-Gate 4000 Media Gateways, the VerazView Management System, and a set of prepackaged applications. For more information regarding the company, please visit www.veraznetworks.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events that involve risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the possibility that the transaction will not close or that the closing may be delayed, the anticipated synergies of the combined companies may not be achieved after closing, the combined operations may not be successfully integrated in a timely manner, anticipated revenues, gross margin and operating income may not be achieved, general economic conditions in regions in which either company does business may have a negative effect on their respective businesses, and the possibility that Veraz or Dialogic may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Additional risks and uncertainties that could cause Veraz results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include but are not the other risks and uncertainties described more fully in Veraz documents filed with or furnished to the SEC. More information about these and other risks that may impact Veraz’ business is set forth in the “Risk Factors” section in Veraz Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 as filed with the SEC. This filing is available on a website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov/. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Veraz as of the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. A copy of this press release can be found on the investor relations page of Veraz’ website at www.veraznetworks.com. (VRAZ -IR)

Additional Information about the Proposed Transaction and Where You Can Find It:

Veraz plans to file a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a solicitation of proxies from its stockholders in connection with a special meeting of stockholders of Veraz to be held for the purpose of voting on the issuance of Veraz common stock in connection with the proposed transaction. BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING DECISION WITH RESPECT TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION, SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER RELEVANT MATERIALS WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. The proxy statement and other relevant materials, and any other documents filed by Veraz with the SEC, may be obtained free of charge at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, stockholders of Veraz may obtain free copies of the documents filed with the SEC by contacting Veraz’s Investor Relations department at (408) 750-9400 or Investor Relations, Veraz Networks, Inc., 926 Rock Avenue, Suite 20, San Jose, California 95131. You may also read and copy any reports, statements and other information filed by Veraz with the SEC at the SEC public reference room at 100 F Street, NE, Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 or visit the SEC’s website for further information on its public reference room.

Veraz and its executive officers and directors may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of Veraz in favor of the proposed transaction. A list of the names of Veraz’s executive officers and directors, and a description of their respective interests in Veraz, are set forth in the proxy statement for Veraz’s 2010 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 30, 2010, and in any documents subsequently filed by its directors and executive officers under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

If and to the extent that executive officers or directors of Veraz will receive any additional benefits in connection with the proposed transaction that are unknown as of the date of this filing, the details of such benefits will be described in the proxy statement and security holders may obtain additional information regarding the interests of Veraz’s executive officers and directors in the proposed transaction by reading the proxy statement when it becomes available.