Primal receives compatibility nod from Nortel; allies with Openet Telecom

<%=company1%> has deemed Primal's Outfront analytical customer relationship management (CRM) product compatible with its DMS-MTX switching platform. After extensive testing for both performance and accuracy in Nortel Networks' Wireless Interoperability Services Lab, the CRM was approved and will provide insight and analysis into usage patterns for telecom carriers using Nortel's switching equipment. The tests at the lab were performed on servers provided by Sun Microsystems using Sun's Solaris operating system.

The Outfront CRM solution can gather and store data from any network element or business system, analyze the data, and generate detailed customer and business intelligence. It uses specialized data mart technology and Web-based data mining and analysis tools that provide management with real-time access to detailed network and usage information. Through Outfront's user-defined business rules, communications providers can proactively "close the loop" by automating actions back into the organization in response to this new found intelligence. The result is a clear picture of customer data, which can be used to focus business efforts on maximizing profitability, enhancing customer loyalty, and getting the most from its enterprise investment.

Alliance
In other news, Primal (Irvine, CA), a subsidiary of Avery Communications, and Openet Telecom (Dublin, Ireland) have formed a strategic alliance to provide turnkey, end-to-end integrated customer relationship management and analytics, billing, and mediation solutions to the communications industry.

The two companies will provide Primal's Outfront CRM solution and customer care and billing application, Primal Connect CCB, with Openet's FusionWorks mediation technologies to leverage the convergence capabilities of both companies' products across the wireline, wireless, and IP markets.

According to Stuart Kelly, vice president of sales and marketing of Openet Telecom, Primal's experience in the wireless arena will give Openet the chance to expand its North American presence. Likewise, Openet will allow Primal to expand its presence in the European marketplace and exploit the convergent service capabilities of its products.

"Today's communications service providers are focusing on providing multiple and convergent services, from multiple networks and network types," said David Haynes, vice president of business development for Primal. "The challenges they face in collecting this variety of usage information, understanding customer's behavior and preferences, and billing for the services, become significantly more complex. The Primal-Openet agreement provides the integration of carrier-class IP, wireless, and wireline collection with scalable and flexible billing and customer relationship management. The resulting solution enables communications service providers to maximize profitability on next-generation services."

Edited by Ellen Jensen