Convergys and Visage behind Disney Mobile launch

Now that Disney Mobile introduced itself as the newest--and most functionally interesting--mobile virtual network operator on the block, those enabling the entertainment giant's service, such as Convergys and Visage Mobile, are taking their bows.

The two vendors, who also partnered on the launch of ESPN Mobile and other MVNOs, will provide Disney Mobile with outsourced billing and professional services (Convergys) as well as a service delivery platform (Visage).

Convergys will host its Infinys Rating and Billing software and Visage's suite of applications in its data center. It also will provide consulting, maintenance, support and training services.

Disney Mobile launched last week at the CTIA Conference in Las Vegas. The service will be aimed at families and will feature exclusive handsets and a lot of parental control and call control capabilities, which will be supported in part by Telcordia.

Available in June of this year, the service will feature The Family Center, a suite of four exclusive services, that will enable parents to directly manage their family's wireless experience, including controlling when and how often kids use their phone; locating kids' handsets using GPS technology; protecting their kids from unwanted calls and messages and extending priority text messages to all Disney Mobile family plan members simultaneously.

The $80 million Visage has invested in its platform since being founded in 1991 is beginning to pay off. It has landed two of the most high-profile MVNOs in Disney and ESPN Mobile, which utilize the Sprint network. Visage also is supporting the launch of an MVNO on the Cingular Network.

"We set out winning based on technology as the only Tier 1 end-to-end, multi-tenant platform, but today we win business for that and for the level of experience we have," said Matt Johnson, CEO of Visage Mobile. No one else has been through this number of launches nor the size of these launches."

Johnson added that Visage has been the only vendor focused solely on this platform. "We weren't coming from some other industry where we had some adjunct business."

And with Disney it takes special care. "It certainly leads to a lot of late nights and hard work. There is a quality established with their brand and reputation and certainly we take personal responsibility for living up to that," Johnson said.