Comverse Buying CSG Systems Unit for $251m.
Comverse will fold GSS, a maker of software-based billing systems,
into its real-time billing division.
The combination is aimed at allowing Comverse to better provide
billing services to wireless, wireline, cable, satellite, and
Internet-based service providers.
GSS makes billing solutions for post-paid services, meaning the
customer pays for cellular calls after making them.At present,
Comverse offers a billing solution only for pre-paid cellular service.
For the six months ending June 30, GSS and the related assets
Comverse is buying generated revenue of about $83.6 million dollars.
Comverse had revenue of $558.6 million in the six months ended July
31.
Comverse would be adding all the unit's 900 employees to its present
3,500-person workforce. More than 2,000 of these people work at its
Ramat Hahayal center in Tel Aviv.
CheckPoint Buying Sourcefire
Check Point, which sells firewall software to nearly 80,000 customers
worldwide, will pay cash.
Over the years, Sourcefire's online friends and fans added to the
code -- which it has kept out in the open on the Internet for all to
see in order to create an advanced network security system that has
been downloaded by more than 2 million people.
The technology, called Snort, has developed a following of loyalists
who watch for new versions and spend hours discussing how to advance
the software. Like most intrusion detection systems, Snort patrols
computer networks looking for worms, viruses and other potential
threats, and alerts security personnel when it finds one.
The basic version of Snort remains free, but Sourcefire has attracted
about 800 paying customers by packaging it into a more user-friendly
product that includes reporting capabilities, analysis technology and
customer support features. Sourcefire executivescompare the
arrangement to giving away an engine, but offering a whole car for
sale.
By 2008 the impact of open-source technologies including sales of
open-source-based products and money lost by traditional vendors --
will exceed $5 billion, according to Garner Inc., and analysts say
that is just the beginning.
With $100,000 in angel funding, Sourcefire began selling a more
polished version of Snort that came with service guarantees and help
with installation. After Sourcefire landed some major clients it was
able to raise $33.65 million in three rounds of venture funding. Its
investors include Greylock Partners of San Mateo, Calif.; Sierra
Ventures of Menlo Park, Calif.; and New Enterprise Associates of
Baltimore.
Licenses for Sourcefire's products, some of which have been developed
on a proprietary basis, start around $4,000 and go as high as
$120,000, depending on the complexity of the product.
Check Point's chief executive, Gil Shwed, said Sourcefire's
technology will eventually be embedded in all its products. The
Israeli firm's firewall systems work to block the same attacks that
Sourcefire's software detects.
The market for computer security systems has boomed in recent years.
But analysts caution that the market for firewalls is now largely
saturated, forcing Check Point to branch into new lines of business.
In 2004, Check Point earned $248.4 million, up only slightly from the
$243.9 million profit it recorded the previous year.
"The firewall market isn't going anywhere," said William R. Becklean,
an analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. The Sourcefire purchase is a way
for Check Point "to try and maintain the growth of the company,"
Becklean said.
Retalix Ups 2005 Projections
Point of sale technology company Retalix (Nasdaq: RTLX ; TASE: RTLX)
of Ra'anana has updated its guidance for 2005. The company now
expects its revenue for 2005 to exceed $190 million. Net profit for
2005 is projected at over $15.5 million.
The company's previous guidance was for a profit of $15 million on
revenues of $185 million.
The analysts' consensus estimate is earnings per share of $0.81 on
revenue of $194 million. Retalix is one of the companies, mentioned
by IHTIR as having above average growth potential.
Comverse Technologies (NASDAQ:CMVT), is expanding its presence in the
growing global billing industry. The company stated that it has
agreed to acquire the GSS division and CSG Systems International
Inc. for $251 million in cash.
Sourcefire Inc., a Columbia software firm that began as a pet project
of computer-coding hobbyists, is being bought by Israeli security
giant Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. for $225 million,
marking a victory for the open-source software movement.