Comverse Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMVT) today announced that Comverse Inc. completed its acquisition of the GSS division and certain related assets of CSG Systems International, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGS), for approximately $249 million in cash, subject to certain post closing adjustments. The combination of GSS, a leader in software-based billing solutions, with Comverse’s Real-Time Billing group is expected to expand significantly Comverse’s addressable market, and enhance its leadership position in the emerging converged billing market, serving wireless, wireline, cable, satellite, and Internet-based service providers.

GSS brings to Comverse a broad suite of software-based billing solutions, supporting the voice, data, video, and e-commerce offerings of approximately 150 service providers, including wireless, wireline, cable, satellite, and Internet-based companies. GSS customers include, among others, Bharti, British Sky Broadcasting, BSNL, BT, China Telecom, eBay, France Telecom, O2, Telecom Italia and certain Vodafone entities.

Kobi Alexander, Chairman and CEO of Comverse Technology, said, “We believe the emerging converged billing market is approaching an inflection point, and that a significant growth opportunity is at hand. Converged billing is expected to be among the fast growing, and ultimately one of the largest, segments of the overall billing market. This combination is projected to enhance our leadership position as a supplier of converged billing solutions, and to open up cross-selling growth opportunities for data, messaging, content, and billing solutions into our respective customer bases.”

Zeev Bregman, CEO of Comverse, the company’s network systems unit, said, “GSS complements our product portfolio, technology, customer footprint, and strategic direction. Most service providers today rely on disparate solutions for billing, including highly customized, inflexible systems serving specific customer and application segments, including prepaid, post-paid, fixed, and wireless. As services and networks converge, so too will billing solutions, addressing the different types of convergence, such as prepaid/post-paid, fixed/mobile, and data/voice. We believe that flexible, software-centric product modules, such as those provided by GSS and Comverse, are best suited to meet the needs of service providers going forward. In addition, we believe service providers will appreciate the advantages of having both value-added services and billing solutions provided by the same supplier. The advantages include faster time-to-market for new services, greater flexibility in service segmentation, modification, and targeted marketing campaigns, and lower total cost of ownership. This growth-driven initiative is expected to position Comverse for long-term leadership in the emerging and expanding converged billing market, expand our customer base and scale, enhance the leadership position of both GSS and Comverse in their respective domains, and introduce new cross-selling growth opportunities into both customer bases.”

The combination of GSS and Comverse’s Real-Time Billing group is expected to result in the creation of a leading supplier of converged billing solutions, and one of the leading overall suppliers of billing solutions for wireless and fixed service providers.

Emblaze Ltd (“Emblaze or “the Group”) (LSE:BLZ) announces that its Group company, Adamind Ltd (“Adamind” or “the Company”) (LSE:ADA), a leading global supplier of media adaptation software in the Mobile Messaging (MMS), Content and Convergence Services markets, together with LogicaCMG and Optus, a multi-million dollar contract for the deployment of a world-first end-to-end content management solution.

Optus, a leading telecommunications operator in Australia, has deployed a state-of-the-art content management solution that includes search, digital rights management (DRM) and transcoding.

LogicaCMG has been appointed the prime contractor of this new solution, delivering solution design, project management, software implementation, systems integration, migration, and ongoing support for a consortium of global partners.

Adamind’s MediaSpire software which sits at the heart of LogicaCMG’s MMSC will be adapting all content to be delivered to any handset within Australia.

Allen Lew, Managing Director Optus Consumer said, “With the launch of 3G this year, we see content as strategically important to our mobile business. The solution LogicaCMG has designed will allow us to launch some very exciting services.”

LogicaCMG’s extensive industry expertise made it an ideal supplier for Optus. Its systems deliver two out of every three text messages and its messaging and billing solutions are deployed by 300 of the world’s top operators in over 130 countries.

LogicaCMG’s end-to-end service works with clients to design robust business models and service infrastructures, harnessing global experience as a leading systems integrator. LogicaCMG’s innovations have been helping to make and shape the global telecoms market for more than 30 years. Having deployed the world’s first and only fully integrated 3G IP-based messaging solution and migrated more than 50 operators to an IP-based messaging environment, LogicaCMG’s expertise enables operators to assure innovation in Next Generation telecoms.

Tango Telecom, the leading provider of convergent charging and intelligent messaging solutions, today announced the successful deployment of the Tango CCN as part of two compact cellular networks Alvarion installed for telecommunications provider, Outremer Telecom. The deployment will provide real-time data services to the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe and French Guiana.

The Tango CCN was deployed to enable real-time GPRS charging for prepaid and postpaid subscribers. The Tango CCN provides real-time metering and control of GPRS traffic and content for Outremer’s prepaid subscribers, with a seamless integration to the Alvarion IN prepaid system. The CCN also provides billable CDRs for postpaid subscriber activities.

“We’re delighted to work with Alvarion to deliver our charging solution to Outremer Telecom”, said Colm Ward, CEO of Tango. “We expect that this first installation will lead to further joint opportunities on a global basis”, he added.

MobilePro Corporpation (OTC Bulletin Board: MOBL), a wireless technology and broadband telecommunications company, announced today that CEO Jay Wright will be a featured speaker at the Telecom IQ MVNO Summit conference in Miami today, Dec. 7, at 11 a.m. Eastern.

The MVNO Summit will be held at the Radisson Hotel in Miami. For more details, visit http://www.iqpc.com/telecomiq .

About MobilePro Corp.
MobilePro Corp. is one of North America’s leading wireless broadband companies, serving over 20,000 wireless broadband customers through its subsidiaries NeoReach Wireless and Kite Broadband. The company, based in Bethesda, Md., is focused on creating shareholder value by acquiring and growing profitable telecommunications companies, developing innovative wireless technologies and forging strategic alliances with well-positioned companies in complementary product lines and industries. MobilePro serves over 200,000 total customers throughout the United States, primarily through its CloseCall America, American Fiber Network, Kite Broadband and Nationwide Internet subsidiaries.

Narus, Inc. today announced that it has signed an agreement with VeriSign, Inc. that allows VeriSign to offer the entire suite of Narus products to its global customer base as managed services or licensed software. This includes capabilities for security, traffic analysis and lawful interception.

The first Narus product being offered by VeriSign is Narus LI for IP lawful intercept, one of the industry’s most comprehensive IP lawful intercept products for carrier-grade networks. The product has been integrated into the VeriSign NetDiscovery(TM) service — which is a cost-effective alternative to building an in-house proprietary lawful interception solution — that meets the legal, technical and operational requirements needed to support end-to-end compliance for circuit-switched or IP-based technologies. The service helps providers that are responding to requests for collection of subscriber information, historical billing, call detail records and real-time lawful interception.

“VeriSign is the leader in delivering intelligent infrastructure services that enable and protect interactions across voice and data networks,” said Raj Puri, vice president, Communications Business Development, VeriSign. “This agreement with Narus allows us to leverage the Narus highly scalable carrier-grade platform to extend our leadership in IP security and compliance management.”

NarusSecure, Narus LI, NarusAnalyze and NarusMediate are part of the industry’s only complete, high-performance IP security and monitoring system that can be implemented at the network core to analyze and correlate traffic in real-time. The Narus system gives customers the power to dynamically secure their entire network, while managing critical next-generation IP services such as VoIP, IMS and IPTV. Narus enables the flexibility for carriers to quickly adjust to market trends and changing regulatory mandates while providing the infrastructure to manage, protect, and create new services — all on a single common platform.

“Narus has built a global reputation for providing the industry’s highest performance IP security and monitoring system, protecting many of the world’s largest and most critical networks,” said Greg Oslan, CEO, Narus. “This agreement will marry VeriSign’s unparalleled brand with the scalability and flexibility of the Narus system to create the industry’s most complete suite of managed services for IP networks.”

appliedlogx, a leading provider of communication infrastructure engineering, procurement and installation services to the telecommunications industry, has launched Virtual Operations Services (VOS), a web-based operations support platform designed to help telecommunications, cable and VoIP service providers deliver comprehensive services to the residential and business marketplace.

“Installation services have primarily been delivered by the internal staff of service providers due to operational and logistical challenges,” says Rob Cash, CEO, appliedlogx – http://www.appliedlogx.com – . “VOS overcomes those challenges through a robust, web-enabled application that manages the entire process, from initial order processing to equipment ordering and tracking through installation and turn-up to ongoing customer service.”

Because traditional last-mile support typically required a physical presence to handle installation, trouble-shooting and ongoing customer service, outsourced installation providers were limited by their geographic scope. However, today’s advanced telecommunication technologies mean installation and repairs can often be handled remotely. VOS manages that process and, when on-site work is required, provides immediate access to a nationwide network of highly qualified technicians.

The VOS core engine is comprised of four key components:

— Order Management, a web-based ticketing program that creates service orders, provides auto-cost calculations and instant dispatch visibility, as well as manages in-process orders. The Order Management tool tracks items serviced and parts/labor used on an order, tracks exchanges for customer inventory and manages quality control.

— Equipment Fulfillment, which provides online ordering capabilities, order tracking, multiple location tracking and purchase order status, and manages existing vendor relationships. The Equipment tool records automatic transfer per location, tracks serial numbers and MAC addresses, tracks login and passwords and delivery assemblies and kits.

— Installation/Deployment, which captures all user information, manages parent-child relationships, provides quick information for deployment and manages a delivery flow based on FOC dates and CPE delivery. Through the Installation tool, users can quickly dispatch experienced technicians who possess all the current certifications and who have committed to following the appliedlogx Scorecard System, which measures and monitors each process and provides the feedback that is essential to successes.

— Customer Service, which provides Tier One and Tier Two customer support, including the ability to conduct remote configurations and remotely capture call information on demand for analysis and repair. The Customer Service module also manages billing and finance, inside sales and quality control.

VOS installation service offers flat rate pricing to its customers – a telecommunication industry first. It also provides a knowledge base to improve troubleshooting and decrease truck rolls. VOS service components can be purchased individually or as a complete operations platform.

“VOS users benefit from increased efficiency in responding to customer issues as well as the quality of service derived from our nationwide coverage ability,” says Cash. “It’s a turnkey solution for any traditional and non-traditional telecommunication service provider wishing to reduce operating costs, increase geographic reach and enhance the quality of their customer service.”

About appliedlogx
Based in Tampa, appliedlogx – http://www.appliedlogx.com – provides communication infrastructure engineering, procurement and installation services. The Company’s technical capacity extends from the telecom central office to the final communications infrastructures of end users. Customers include Verizon, Covad and Sprint, as well as end users installation for Starbucks, Dominos Pizza and Target.

The Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) Group and Connectiva Systems, a leading provider of revenue assurance solutions to the telecom industry worldwide has won the prestigious World Billing Award – “Best Revenue Assurance / Management Project” — awarded by the Institute for International Research (IIR). Connectiva Systems was awarded this recognition for implementing its ONEREViEW(TM) revenue assurance solution at the MTC Group, and demonstrating a compelling Return on Investment (ROI) for the project while delivering the desired functionality on time and under budget.

Launched in 1997, the World Billing Awards are widely regarded as the highest recognition of billing excellence within the telecom industry. The winners were selected in April 2005 and the award ceremony took place on December 6, 2005 in Madrid. Connectiva Systems was named joint-winner with the MTC Group for the “Best Revenue Assurance Project” for 2005.

Hugh Roberts, presenting the award as chairman of the World Billing Awards judging panel, said, “We introduced the ‘Best Revenue Assurance / Revenue Management Project’ award this year not only as a reflection of the increasing role that revenue assurance is playing in delivering operational effectiveness but also to increase awareness of this amongst the global service provider community. We were delighted that the competition in this new category was so fierce, and the winners are indeed worthy of industry acknowledgement. In the case of the MTC Group deployment, the Judging Panel were particularly impressed by the fact that Connectiva were able to demonstrate some arduous proof of concept requirements and Total Cost of Ownership benefits prior to being awarded the contract, and that the solution was selected and implemented successfully on the basis of scalability, adaptability and with continuous functional change in mind.”

“We are honored to receive this award,” said Mark Trudeau, CEO of Connectiva Systems. “Progressive telecom operators like the MTC Group, who want to maximize the lifetime value of their customers, understand the value of getting visibility over their revenue chain. ONEREViEW(TM)’s unique process-based approach to revenue assurance helps them achieve this objective.”

Venkatesh Jandhyala, Group Revenue Assurance Manager, MTC Group said, “We are delighted to share this winner’s award with Connectiva Systems. Our achievement is a product of the RA philosophy gaining company-wide acceptance and working with a vendor who shares a commitment to our corporate values and objectives. We hope that our success will prompt other operators to take up the challenges of revenue assurance seriously and partner with a good vendor to ensure successful outcomes. This is indicative of our goal to control our revenue cycle and minimize revenue loss, thereby enhancing value for all shareholders in the MTC Group.”

Tekmark Global Solutions LLC, one of the largest privately held providers of information technology, communications and consulting services to companies worldwide, today announced that Bill Wanke has been named to the dual roles of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer.

Mr. Wanke fills these responsibilities after a remarkable 25-year career at Telcordia Technologies where he most recently served as the Senior Vice President of Telcordia’s Software Systems Organization. At Telcordia, Mr. Wanke managed a team of 2,000 software professionals, leading the organization to impressive results in productivity, quality and service delivery excellence.

“Bill will help expand our current market share by leveraging his industry experience in technology and operations,” said Guy DelGrande, president of Tekmark Global Solutions. “Bill’s proven leadership ability and his vast experience will help Tekmark to continue to grow as a global provider of information technology and telecom services.”

Previously, Mr. Wanke was the Vice President of several of Telcordia’s OSS business units with responsibility for business and software operations. Under his leadership, Mr. Wanke’s business units realized significant earnings increases. Mr. Wanke began his career as a software engineer and held several engineering and management positions where he directed OSS and network systems platform development.

“Tekmark is a market leader with unmatched capability, outstanding leadership, and a long track record of success and customer delight,” said Wanke, “The chance to leverage these assets in a robust services marketplace is a tremendous opportunity – I’m very excited by the prospects and look forward to helping the company to realize it’s potential.”

Wanke holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor’s Degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

NMS Communications (NASDAQ: NMSS), a leading provider of technologies and solutions for mobile applications and infrastructure, today announced it is enabling application developers to build cost-effective, IP video over broadband applications with the introduction of its Video Access 2.0 mobile and IP video applications toolkit (http://www.nmscommunications.com/videoaccess).

Video Access 2.0 works with NMS’s carrier-class CG series of high performance media processing boards, including the recently introduced CG 6565. In conjunction with the Video Access 2.0 toolkit, the company is also announcing its Video Transcoder 2.0 networked transcoding software (http://www.nmscommunications.com/VideoTranscoder), which can be used with the Video Access 2.0 toolkit or separately. Video Transcoder 2.0 enables enhanced streaming video capabilities that support CIF (common interchange format) screen resolution.

Solution developers such as Italy-based Reitek are seeing high demand for solutions that enable IP video over broadband. “The rate of change from audio to video VoIP services is indicative of a real explosion in that market. Within just one year of going mainstream with audio capabilities, VoIP providers are already offering support for SIP-based video phones,” said Daniele Barki, CEO of Reitek. “Video Access 2.0 will enable developers like ourselves to participate in that explosion.”

The early market for video communications has been mobile video services using the 3G-324M mobile format. By extending video capabilities to broadband, Video Access 2.0 is dramatically extending the size of the available video communications market to include both wireless and wireline VoIP consumers. Analysts predict that by 2006, revenue for VoIP equipment alone will already be worth $5.7 billion, with a 60 percent growth rate expected by 2008. The advent of new SIP-based video phones allows developers using the Video Access 2.0 toolkit to attach themselves to that six billion dollar a year and growing market.

“This is about the evolution of entertainment and communications,” said Mike Katz, director of product marketing for NMS Communications. “Technology such as Video Access 2.0 is bringing visual communications to a much larger target market by making it available through the oldest communication technology known to our culture – the telephone.”

With Video Access 2.0, developers can now deploy high performance video applications on either a 3G-324M or an IP network. When used in conjunction with NMS’s high performance CG 6565 platform, Video Access 2.0 is able to double the number of video ports provided. Video Access 2.0 includes support for CIF video streams from multiple vendors’ SIP phones, transcoding and transrating of CIF, video tromboning and streaming gateway support for SIP-based IP video terminals.