Corsair picks up Subscriber Computing

In a move complying with its strategy to add customers and product lines, Corsair will acquire Subscriber Computing Inc.

"It's an exciting growth opportunity into an adjacent product category," said Mary Ann Byrnes, president and CEO of Corsair.

"We have complementary and not overlapping products," said Dennis Andrews, CEO of Subscriber. Corsair's products aim to reduce churn and fraud while Subscriber has focused mainly on customer care and billing, with some emphasis on fraud solutions.

Officials from both companies said it makes sense for products such as Subscriber's FraudWatch Pro and Corsair's PhonePrint to be marketed together. In fact, the seeds of the companies' relationship were planted with negotiations to integrate those two products. "We've been working with key customers that saw the opportunity to make some of these products operate together," Andrews said.

Corsair hopes to chase the international market with the new products. While the U.S. has been fighting fraud for some time, emerging markets in South America, Asia and parts of Europe are just beginning, Byrnes said. "We can sell both products effectively, especially in the international market," she said.

After initial discussions, the companies decided to merge in a matter of weeks, indicating a meeting of like cultures, the two CEOs said. "We both are customer-focused, we've taken our reputations and service very seriously and we both want to deliver the best-of-class applications," Byrnes said.

The acquisition is one more example of the trend toward combined platforms, said David Berndt, program manager for wireless mobile communications at The Yankee Group. "Carriers don't want to have to buy a bunch of point solutions," he said.

Corsair can respond to the demand for integrated platforms by adding services to its product offerings, Berndt said, adding, "Corsair is an industry leader on fraud management but really a one-trick pony. They needed to expand their platform offering."

The companies have not decided how Subscriber will be integrated into Corsair but plan to work through a company integration plan while the FCC and Corsair shareholders finalize the deal.