By Tara Seals

In one of the most synergistic consolidations yet, billing giant Amdocs Ltd. will acquire OSS behemoth Cramer Systems Group Ltd., the private, United Kingdom-based inventory and service fulfillment vendor, for around $375 million in cash. The deal should close this quarter, creating one, large, integrated OSS/BSS/back-office vendor.

The acquisition will allow Amdocs to steam ahead into the OSS space by co-opting Cramer’s 80-country customer base, reputation and Cramer6 suite of network-facing applications, geared to support large-scale OSS transformation projects. The move could be lucrative: Dittberner forecasts the market for network inventory and related network discovery software alone to grow handsomely by a 9.4 percent compound annual growth rate, from $333 million in 2005 to $521 million in 2010.

With a quality company like Cramer, Amdocs expects to be well-positioned to capitalize on the growth opportunity that OSS represents, said Dov Baharav, CEO of Amdocs Ltd. Together, we intend to deliver a complete automated service fulfillment solution across all lines of business for any service, on any network linking order management at the customer layer with activation at the network layer.

Earlier this year, Cramer positioned itself as a “service factory with the launch of Cramer6, an end-to-end fulfillment suite for any service on any network. Cramer6 broadens Cramers inventory application portfolio, expands its footprint into network discovery and activation, and provides an interface to front-office applications. In total, Cramer6 can design and assign resources, coordinate implementations, turn on the services and provide service assurance, while allowing the front-office applications such as billing and CRM to access relevant information.

That latter part will no longer be open-ended. Now, Amdocs can bring its core billing, CRM and other customer-facing apps to that supply chain, thus creating a one-stop shop for all service support whether it’s network OSS, billing or business processes.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of todays announcement put simply, we are redefining the OSS industry, said Guy Dubois, Cramers president and CEO. Service providers are faced with the tripartite challenge of delivering more services at lower cost, managing network transformation and optimizing the customer experience. Amdocs acquisition of Cramer creates a leading integrated BSS/OSS company, so that for the first time, service providers can get a complete view of the network, the service and the customer, all from one supplier.

Cramer will form a new division in Amdocs, which will be the centerpiece of Amdocs OSS strategy and activities, and will leverage and enhance Amdocs current assets in BSS and OSS, the companies said late Tuesday. Cramers current management will continue to lead the business.

Completion of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.

Amdocs Ltd. www.amdocs.com
Cramer Systems Group Ltd. www.cramersystems.com