Telesciences

TeleSciences, headquarters in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, is a provider of software and services for billing mediation, customer self-service and revenue management. Its clients are primarily focused on telecommunications, and include AT&T, Bell Canada, NorthwesTel, Telus, Telikom PNG, SFR, and Verizon as well as telecommunication equipment providers such as Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Siemens Networks, and Nortel.
TeleSciences was founded in 1967 by Fred Cohen, Dony Crowder, and Michael A. Petrozzo.
Mr. Cohen grew up in Philadelphia and after completing an electrical engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania worked for Minneapolis Honeywell, Philco, RCA, and International Telephone and Telegraph before deciding to found TeleSciences.
Early products collected billing and performance information from a variety of telecommunication switches. AUTRAX, an automated system designed to monitor and statistically analyze traffic on telephone networks was the company's first success.
AT&T initially used the product but when Western Electric developed a similar system they switched to use it instead. In 1981 TeleSciences won an antitrust suit against AT&T. Under the terms of the settlement, AT&T agreed to purchase $300 million of equipment from TeleSciences over eight years with an advance payment of $40 million.
TeleSciences introduced the automatic electronic collection of usage data from networks and released a follow up product to AUTRAX, the Subscriber Electronic Billing Complex (SEBX). During the 1980s TeleSciences expanded to employ over 1,200 people, and created several telecommunication business units:
* TeleSciences CO Systems based in Moorestown, NJ involved with Central Office systems, signaling, billing mediation, wireless billing, and private branch exchanges. Bell South International used TeleSciences CASS products for their overseas cellular developments. Communications Automation Support Software (CASS) 3000 - provided inventory control, activation of new telephones, accounts receivable and payable, sales lead tracking, credit applications, customer action, marketing, collection and roamer management. CASS 2000 Point-of-Sale-System - provided inventory management, accounting and finance reporting and customer action. The products were ahead of their time with both products using a graphical user interface EDR point-of-sale for billing/rating operations.
* TeleSciences Transmission Systems based in Bloomingdale, IL and Freemont, CA
* TeleSciences International based in San Francisco, CA
In 1993 California Microwave Inc. completed its acquisition of TeleSciences Transmission Systems unit for $28.7 million.
As part of the transaction, Motorola Inc., a TeleSciences Transmission customer, bought a $5.7 million convertible subordinated note from California Microwave and extended its supply agreement with TeleSciences Transmission through October 1998.
In 1994 Securicor (a UK based security company) purchased the company. In 1997 the company completed an IPO of 2.6 million shares at $12 per share and listed on NASDAQ as Axiom. (Axiom was renamed to TeleSciences in 1998.) The Sterling range of collection, processing, and revenue management products were introduced after the US West NewVector Group selected TeleSciences to participate in the development of a teleprocessing system that provided real-time billing, fraud control and customer-care management. NewVector and TeleSciences worked to install a network-wide, real-time teleprocessing system and to develop a set of strategic applications.
TeleSciences began working with CableLabs in 1998 to help define the billing requirements for DOCSIS cable networks. The PacketCable specification describes how a Record Keeping Server should be used for billing event message collection. TeleSciences supplies Record Keeping Servers to Cable MSOs.
In 1998 Telesciences acquired the San Diego based IDT/Alston (formerly Innovative Data Technology) a manufacturer of 9-track tape drives, a range of magnetic tape emulators (MTEs), and a Local Toll Billing System (LTBS).
In December 1999 TeleSciences was acquired by EDB ASA from Oslo, Norway.
After 11 years of overseas ownership in September 2005 the US management team purchased TeleSciences from EDB ASA.
TeleSciences' current products include software for IMS Charging across both fixed and mobile networks.
Spire Capital Partners invested in TeleSciences in 2006, and, along with its portfolio company, Ariston Global, in 2007 helped acquire the company 10e Solutions who provide cost, revenue and profit analytics and use Massively Parallel Processor databses such as Netezza and Teradata.
In September 2008, Ariston Global acquired competitor ACE*COMM and merged it with TeleSciences. ACE*COMM’s service delivery platform offers policy controls for any network transaction - complemented by a fully-configurable revenue management and service fulfillment OSS infrastructure - with customers in over 70 countries. Additionally, ACE*COMM brought an extensive enterprise OSS customer base across military, federal, state and local governments and enterprises. The combined company now brings together some of the industry’s most powerful and advanced solutions for data management, analytics, controls and systems which enhance the value of services offered by carriers and large enterprises alike. Together, the joint solutions address concerns of operators and enterprises as they launch new services and adopt new business models to enhance value for their subscribers.
On February 5, 2009, the combined companies of TeleSciences, ACE*COMM and 10e Solutions announced it was a single organization under the name, Ventraq.

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