NXTcomm08: NextPoint hires Global Logic for mobile development

LAS VEGAS--Carriers aren’t the only telecom companies embracing managed services. NextPoint is outsourcing its non-core applications development, tapping GlobalLogic and its team of hundreds of engineers to develop mobile platforms and custom-solutions for NextPoint’s security gateway and session management platforms.

Announced at NXTcomm2008, the multimillion-dollar deal will span 5 years and give NextPoint’s carrier customers access to all of GlobalLogic’s engineering resources, said Mark Pugerude, chief marketing officer for NextPoint. “We just grabbed 200 to 250 engineers that Nokia, Qualcomm and others have been using for their development,” Pugerude said.

GlobalLogic has worked with NextPoint in the past, but it primarily created one-off solutions for individual customers on a case-by-case basis. The new contract will essentially put GlobalLogic in charge of a new NextPoint program called the Mobility Development Center, a one-stop shop for NextPoint’s infrastructure partners and carrier customers to build their services and infrastructure around NextPoint’s systems.

NextPoint will maintain its own development in house but much of the integration functions of the business will go to GlobalLogic. For instance NextPoint will develop its own femtocell management and signaling technology, but GlobalLogic would likely do the tweaking on that core platform to ensure it works on and interoperates with different vendors’ femtocell platforms.