Acision was a privately held British

mobile communications Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Telephony is supposed to specifically point to a voice-only service or connection, though sometimes the ...

network infrastructure company engaged in messaging and charging systems that enable popular services such as

Short message service Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short tex ...

(SMS),

Multimedia Messaging Service Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from a mobile phone over a cellular network. Users and providers may refer to such a message as a PXT, a picture message, or a multimedia ...

(MMS),

mobile internet The mobile web refers to mobile browser-based World Wide Web services accessed from handheld mobile devices, such as smartphones or feature phones, through a mobile or other wireless network. History and development Traditionally, the Worl ...

browsing, mobile broadband, and

voicemail A voicemail system (also known as voice message or voice bank) is a computer-based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to process transactions relating to ind ...

. In particular, Acision specialised in providing IP messaging to

over-the-top media service An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributor ...

s and other enterprises. Acision was founded in 2007 as a spin-off of the wireless networks business from LogicaCMG. It existed as an independent, private company until it was purchased by Comverse, Inc. in 2015.

Background

Acision's roots lie in two companies: # The Wireless Data Services (WDS) division of Anglo-Dutch consultancy and telecommunications company CMG, the first to develop a Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) in 1992 which was first deployed in 1993. CMG WDS also developed UCP/EMI, a protocol primarily used to connect to short message service centres ( SMSCs). # The Irish mobile telecommunications pioneers

Aldiscon Aldiscon Limited was a telecommunications software company founded in Dublin, Ireland, in 1988. The company supplied software products to mobile phone operators and became a leader in the supply of short message service centres (SMSC). History ...

, the first to commercially deploy an SMSC, ''Telepath'', and its now standardized protocol SMPP in 1993. Aldiscon's first deployment of its ''Telepath'' SMSC was with TeliaSonera in Sweden in 1993, followed by Fleet Call (now

Nextel Nextel Communications, Inc. was an American wireless service operator that merged with and ceased to exist as a subsidiary of Sprint Corporation, which would later be bought by T-Mobile US and folded into that company. Nextel in Brazil, and form ...

) in the US,

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwi ...

in Norway and BT Cellnet (now O2 UK) later in 1993. In 1997, Aldiscon was acquired by UK-based

Logica Logica plc was a multinational IT and management consultancy company headquartered in London and later Reading, United Kingdom. Founded in 1969, the company had offices in London and in a number of major cities across England, Wales and Sc ...

, which merged with CMG in 2002 to form LogicaCMG. Both companies' wireless divisions merged into LogicaCMG Wireless Networks.

History

Acision was born on 20 February 2007, when LogicaCMG Wireless Networks was sold for £265m (US$525m) to private investors Atlantic Bridge Ventures and

Access Industries Access Industries, Inc. is an American privately held multinational industrial group. It was founded in 1986 by businessman Leonard "Len" Blavatnik, who is also its chairman. Access's industrial focus is in four areas: natural resources and c ...

and became known as Acision. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' wrote that the new entity was "the world's largest provider of the software, hardware and integration services that form the infrastructure behind SMS text messages". The lead investor at Atlantic Bridge (who became executive chairman at Acision), Laurence Quinn, had been one of the founders of Aldiscon. As of 2008, Acision had over 300 mobile operators as customers. Acision claimed to serve over a billion end users, and that over 50 per cent of SMS revenue was generated through its platforms. The company employed approximately 1,500 people in 22 countries. Acision was considered one of the industry leaders in providing an MMS delivery platform to content provides, marketing providers, and the like. In June 2015, it was announced that Acision was being acquired by Comverse, Inc. for a combination of cash and stock values at between $135 and $210 million. Soon after the acquisition, Comverse changed its name to Xura.

References

{{reflist

External links

Acision official website

Acision innovation network

- Mobile Industry Review Technology companies established in 2007 Technology companies disestablished in 2015 Display technology companies Software companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 2007 British companies disestablished in 2015 2007 establishments in England 2015 disestablishments in England