Aricent was a global design and engineering services company. It was acquired by French-based company

Altran Capgemini Engineering (previously known as ''Altran Technologies, SA'') is a global innovation and engineering consulting firm founded in 1982 in France by Alexis Kniazeff and Hubert Martigny. Altran Technologies operated primarily in high tec ...

in 2018 and renamed Altran North America in April 2019 and Altran Americas in early 2020. With Altran's acquisition by

Capgemini Capgemini SE is a French Multinational corporation, multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company, headquartered in Paris, France. History Capgemini was founded by Serge Kampf in 1967 as an enterprise management and d ...

, the successors of Aricent are incorporated into

Capgemini Engineering Capgemini Engineering (previously known as ''Altran Technologies, SA'') is a global innovation and engineering consulting firm founded in 1982 in France by Alexis Kniazeff and Hubert Martigny. Altran Technologies operated primarily in high tec ...

and to a lesser extent, Capgemini Invent. Aricent was best known for developing telecom software which is used by telecom giants such as

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...

Juniper Networks Juniper Networks, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The company develops and markets networking products, including Router (computing), routers, Network switch, switches, network management so ...

Nokia Networks Nokia Networks (formerly Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational data networking and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and who ...

Oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise ALE International SAS, trading as Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, is a French software company headquartered in Colombes, France, providing communication equipment and services to telecommunications companies, ISPs and data providers. The company w ...

, and

Nortel Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It was founded in ...

History

Aricent is the successor to Hughes Software Systems, which was established in 1991, as a subsidiary of

Hughes Electronics Hughes Electronics Corporation was formed in 1985, when Hughes Aircraft was sold by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to General Motors for $5.2 billion. Surviving parts of Hughes Electronics are today known as DirecTV Group, while the automoti ...

, with funding from

Sequoia Capital Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California, specializing in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. the firm had appro ...

. * 1985: Future Software Communications founded by KV Ramani, a TCP/IP stack developer from India which will eventually merge with Hughes Software Systems. * 1991: Hughes Software Systems (HSS) founded by KV Ramani in

Nehru Place Nehru Place is a large commercial centre in Delhi, India. Although its importance as a financial centre has declined in recent years, Nehru Place is still a prominent commercial area in South Delhi and houses the headquarters of several In ...

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

to develop software solutions in the areas of VSAT-based networks for voice and data, cellular wireless telephony, packet switching, and multi-protocol routing. Pioneered the development of Protocol Stacks. * 2004: Flextronics bought HSS to form Flextronics Software Systems and merged with Future Software headquartered. Acquired

Frog Design frog (styled as ''"frog, part of Capgemini Invent"'') is a global creative and design consultancy founded in 1969 by industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger in Mutlangen, Germany, where it was initially named “esslinger design”. Soon after the ...

for approximately $25 million. * 2005: Expanded development operations in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

and

Vinnytsia Vinnytsia ( ; , ) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It serves as the administrative centre, administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast. It is the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. It also s ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

;

Randburg Randburg is an area located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly a separate municipality, its administration devolved to the newly created City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, along with neighbouring Sandton and Roodepoort ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

; and

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Was delisted from India's stock market in preparation for sale. * 2006: Was acquired by

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...

and Sequoia Capital as part of a $900 million sales of software companies. The transaction represented the largest private equity buy-out in Indian history. * 2007: Acquired Datalinx; launched service provider offerings. * 2008: The Family Office, a multi-

family office A family office is a privately held company that handles investment management and wealth management for a wealthy family, generally one with at least $50–100 million in investable assets, with the goal being to effectively grow and transfer ...

company with headquarters in Bahrain also joined in funding Aricent. * 2011: Rebranded to Aricent Group. * 2011: Opened engineering and development center for testing and wireless technologies in Vietnam * 2013: Rebranded to Aricent. * 2015: Acquired SmartPlay Technologies, a semiconductor service based firm for $180 million. As part of the deal, SmartPlay's 1,200-plus staff joined Aricent's staff. * 2018:

acquired Aricent, with Aricent operating as ''Altran North America'' in the Americas; * 2019:

announced plans to acquire Altran Group * 2020: Capgemini acquired Altran Group in April, with the majority of Altran staff (including most former Aricent employees) incorporated into Capgemini Engineering. Frog incorporated into Capgemini Invent.

References

{{Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Privately held companies based in New Jersey Defunct software companies of the United States Companies based in Palo Alto, California Software companies established in 1991 Software companies of Ukraine Kohlberg Kravis Roberts companies 1991 establishments in California 2020 disestablishments in California Software companies disestablished in 2020 2020 mergers and acquisitions

History

See also

References