Synchronoss lands in cable market via LNP

Business process outsourcer, Synchronoss Technologies, took its ActivationNow platform to the cable space this week in support of the sector’s push into voice over IP.

The recently VoIP-enabled platform will be used by a major U.S. cable provider for order management, inventory management and local number portability. Synchronoss also signed an international communications and information services company for number porting and service fulfillment of residential VoIP.

Synchronoss will manage the interfaces for verification, reconciliation and order fulfillment processes related to porting telephone numbers to its VoIP customers’ networks.

"We are finding that a lot of cable operators were surprised a little bit by the take rate for LNP customers who want to keep their numbers for the VoIP environment," said Stephen Waldis, CEO of Synchronoss.

Synchronoss projects handling between 100,000 and 150,000 ports per month by the end of the fourth quarter. The company’s platform operates as an outsourced services model, which has been utilized by AT&T Business Services, AT&T Wireless, MCI and Sprint. It also helps large enterprises fulfill request with their providers.

The company’s revenue grew 100% last year and is on track to grown another 100% this year. "We had a model that was a year or two ahead of its time," Waldis said. "But software as a service is really starting to take off. I no longer hear the objections as to whether or not this is a model carriers want to deploy."

Synchronoss has had 15 quarters of sequential growth and is a profitable company, Waldis said. "Our early days were in the worst time telecom has ever seen. And to be able to grow during that time shows that the model had resiliency in both good and bad times," he said.

Waldis added that the company has no debt and still has the majority of its original Series A funding in the bank. With six marquis carriers using the ActivationNow platform, Waldis feels the company has proved it can provide the necessary scale, even in a hosted environment.

One of those marquis players is AT&T Wireless, which soon will be consumed by Cingular. Synchronoss is handling upwards of 50,000 gross adds per month and supporting 211 of AT&T Wireless’ largest enterprise customers. Waldis considers this a premium asset that could not only help his company maintain the business post acquisition, but expand it.

Since starting out in 2001 supporting 80% Frame Relay and IP/VPNs, 60% of Synchronoss transactions are now with wireless operators, with about 30% coming from data transactions and 10% from VoIP. Waldis expects that with the explosive growth of VoIP, his company will be evenly split between wireless and VoIP providers.