BUSINESS BRIEFS

Comverse Network Systems, a division of Comverse Technology Inc., joined the Wireless Application Protocol Forum Ltd., said the company. Comverse said it is the first vendor exclusively dedicated to providing network operators with enhanced services platforms to join WAP. WAP is a non-profit organization, which was established by L.M. Ericsson, Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp. and Unwired Planet Inc. to bring Internet content and advanced services to digital wireless phones and other wireless devices.

Unity Communications said it agreed to acquire certain customers and distribution assets of Snider Telecom, Little Rock, Ark. Under the terms of the agreement, Unity will own all small commercial market and individual subscribers, as well as the direct and retail sales operations of the company and its customer service call center. Snider Telecom will continue to provide paging service to its reseller and major accounts, and Unity will out-source its paging network needs to Snider. Unity and Snider Telecom had been involved in a joint venture relationship prior to the agreement. Unity is a reseller of various telecom services, offering customers bundled services on one bill.

Siemens Business Communications announced it bought the technology assets of Sunburst Software Inc., Torrance Calif., for an undisclosed sum. Siemens said the acquisition is the latest in its effort to acquire and/or partner with what it considers best-of-breed call center solution providers. Sunburst creates customized software solutions for call centers, such as its Vantage+, Windows NT-based solution.

Silverlake Communications Inc. announced it reached a reseller agreement with Network Services L.L.C. to market and promote Silverlake’s Airsource wireless messaging software suite. The agreement will allow Silverlake to reach Network Services’ customer base of more than 750 resellers and provide alphanumeric paging services to the end user throughout California, Nevada and Arizona. The main products include customized versions of both Airsource Lite and Airsource Pro. These two products are designed to enable Windows, Windows 95/98 and Windows NT users to send wireless text messages via Network Services’ alphanumeric gateways.

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