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Oracle is looking to buy certain assets of eServGlobal, which provides prepaid charging solutions for the communications industry. The deal, announced May 26 and expected to close in the second half of 2010, centers on eServGlobal’s Universal Service Platform (USP), which includes a network-services platform and messaging gateway in addition to a prepaid charging application. Prepaid mobile customers represent a rapidly growing segment of the communications industry, particularly in developing countries.
Along with all platform components and developer tools, USP-related assets transferred to Oracle will include ChargingMax, NumberMax, uVOMS, MessageMax, PromoMax Express, UMS and Social Relationship Management. The pairing of those applications with Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management is “expected to accelerate the shift from network- to IT-based prepaid systems by providing the first convergent, open IT-based platform from a leading business software and hardware systems company,” according to a May 26 Oracle statement.
“The majority of mobile phone users worldwide use prepaid plans, and that number is growing exponentially,” Liam Maxwell, vice president of products for Oracle Communications, wrote in a statement. “Oracle Communications applications combined with the prepaid software assets from eServGlobal will provide our customers with highly available and scalable carrier-grade, prepaid software in an open, convergent platform.”
Maxwell added: “This will enable our customers to deliver traditional prepaid voice services and easily introduce hybrid prepaid and post-paid plans with targeted pricing, promotions and service bundles that include voice, data and network services.”
Executives from eServGlobal cast the acquisition as a chance to change course.
“This deal represents a strategic move for both companies. eServGlobal will focus its technology and resources on the m-Money and Value Added Services businesses and in expanding our software as a service delivery and licensing models,” eServGlobal CEO Richard Mathews wrote in a separate statement. “Oracle has acquired leading technology that supports one of the largest installed charging bases in the world and provides our customers with cost-efficient routing of international calls, SMS and multimedia messages using a combination of TDM and SIP networks.”
The announcement suggests that Oracle’s strategic endeavors continue to move at a healthy speed. In April, the company unveiled Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g, a platform that consolidates various systems management and support tools with an integrated interface. That followed months of acquisitions and the rollout of still other platforms such as Fusion Middleware 11g, as Oracle continues to challenge other IT giants in various market segments.