Kenan maintains mission: Billing leader continues course after Lucent acquisition

When Lucent Technologies acquired Kenan Systems in January, Kenan stated it would maintain its independence, and its products would continue to be platform-neutral.

Six months later, Kenan is still on track. The billing company has enhanced its feature set, added customers with combined Lucent/Kenan products and announced an integration agreement with Telcordia Technologies' order management and provisioning product.

After the acquisition, Kenan absorbed more than 100 Lucent employees that had been working on the Billdats Data Manager. The combined group created interfaces that assure interoperability of Billdats with Kenan's Arbor/BP and added features to appeal to international carriers.

The company included support for the Euro and currency conversion, allowing European customers to receive bills in their traditional currency and the Euro. Kenan also added multibyte support for Asia-Pacific carriers that will allow bills to be printed in Asian languages.

In the new customer arena, FirstWorld Communications will deploy Lucent PathStar, Arbor/BP and Billdats. FirstWorld chose the products before the acquisition.

"Being able to deploy PathStar in all our regions sets us apart from the other legacy networks," said Scott Chase, senior vice president of corporate and government affairs at FirstWorld. "PathStar and the Kenan system worked well with our business plan, and now that they are one company, it's an added benefit."

With acquisition details behind them, Kenan plans to announce several new products by the end of the year. "First, you will see some products that will analyze and manage fraud. Then, you will see an important offering in customer care," said Jay Sherry, executive director of marketing at Kenan. "Later, we will follow up with billing and ordering announcements designed for [Internet protocol] services."