Obtaining SatManage Is A Parallel Transaction
The former acquired UK-based Parallel Limited, the developer of the award-winning SatManage network management software suite.Through a cash transaction, iDirect purchased 100 percent of Parallel’s equity shares as well as full ownership of SatManage. Parallel’s chief technology officer and entire development team will join iDirect’s engineering group.
Parallel developed SatManage to help satellite service providers manage IP networks that span thousands of sites and feature a wide range of fixed and mobile applications. SatManage integrates and automates nearly every element of a Network Operations Center to improve network performance, providing total visibility to every aspect of a network, along with predictive response capabilities and powerful tools to resolve network issues in real-time.
For additional insight into this acquisition, Parallel’s Guy Adams and iDirect’s David Bettinger discussed the strategy regarding this transaction...
Sat Magazine
Mr. Adams, can you provide some background on Parallel and your SatManage software?
Guy Adams
Parallel was formed as a private company in 1998 and launched the first version of SatManage, a web-based, modular network management system, in 2004. We’re currently selling our fifth version of the software, built on the latest generation of Web technology. Parallel has received technical excellence awards for SatManage.
SM
Please tell us about the key features of the SatManage technology.
Parallel developed SatManage to help satellite service providers manage IP networks that span thousands of sites and feature a wide range of fixed and mobile applications. The software integrates and automates nearly every element of a Network Operations Center to improve network performance.
SatManage’s rich set of monitoring features provides total visibility to every aspect of a network, along with predictive response capabilities and powerful tools to resolve network issues in real-time. SatManage also delivers a high-capacity database which enables service providers to track and analyze network performance statistics and leverage this data to optimize customer implementations. Further, service providers can share network management tools and reports with customers through a web-based portal.
SM
Mr. Bettinger, can you tell us what factors played into iDirect’s decision to acquire Parallel?
Network management technology has become a primary consideration for selecting a satellite communications platform. Parallel has the leading independent commercially available NMS solution in the market today, and is respected in the network industry. Its product, SatManage, meets the growing demand for powerful network management solutions and is already proven with iDirect technology. In fact, much of the current SatManage software has been built specifically to integrate with iDirect’s core NMS, iVantage. SatManage enhances iVantage in an increasingly competitive marketplace, adding powerful automation, monitoring and service optimization capabilities.
Within the past few years, SatManage has gained broad acceptance within iDirect’s customer base, particularly with high profile customers due to its advanced feature set and the existing relationship between the two organizations. In addition, the SatManage framework will be used to develop iDirect’s next generation network management solution.
SM
Dave, how will this acquisition benefit the iDirect customer base?
Dave Bettinger
The NMS is critical to a network operator’s success as it simplifies the complexities of managing a network. The NMS directly impacts their business economics — speed to revenue, customer satisfaction, operational costs and scalability. SatManage has numerous benefits to both network operators and their customers.
First, it allows operators to easily and rapidly identify and solve network issues, resulting in higher uptime and an improved end-user customer experience.
Second, SatManage enables network operators to offer differentiated services such as automated SLA reporting, multiple customer web portals and automated trouble ticketing.
Finally, SatManage provides a single unified management system that supports multiple iDirect software versions.
SM
Guy, will SatManage’s ability to support multiple vendors be affected by this acquisition?
Guy Adams
SatManage will still maintain is strong multi-vendor capabilities, giving service providers a single unifying technology for all their satellite operations.
SM
How does iDirect plan to position and market the SatManage solution?
Dave Bettinger
Initially, SatManage will be marketed as an extended software solution to manage iDirect networks. iDirect’s current management system, iVantage, will continue to be a core part of the iDirect platform Following the integration of both companies’ development teams, iDirect will launch an effort to merge the two products to create a single management platform. The combined solution will enable service providers to advance critical aspects of their operations through extended capabilities.
SM
How will the combined development and engineering teams benefit iDirect?
Guy Adams
The Parallel development team and I will join iDirect’s engineering group. The Parallel engineering staff will be integrated into the existing iDirect engineering organization as a “web software development” center of excellence. The iDirect platform gives us ample opportunity to innovate, and we are excited to share a promising future, working together to tackle the increasingly complex challenges satellite service providers face today and deliver a truly unrivaled solution.
SM
How will the acquisition support iDirect’s growth strategy?
Dave Bettinger
iDirect will be able to benefit from Parallel’s expertise throughout our product offerings. Areas that can be quickly addressed are performance, scalability and database administration expertise. In the longer-term, our two development teams will work together with Systems Architecture and Product Management to plan and develop our next-generation network management system environment.