iconectiv is a supplier of network planning and network management services to telecommunications providers. Known as Bellcore after its establishment in the United States in 1983 as part of the break-up of the
Bell System
The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hund ...
, the company's name changed to Telcordia Technologies after a change of ownership in 1996. The business was acquired by
Ericsson in 2012, then restructured and rebranded as iconectiv in 2013.
A major architect of the United States telecommunications system, the company pioneered many services, including caller ID,
call waiting
Call waiting is a telephone service where a subscriber can accept a second incoming telephone call by placing an in-progress call on hold—and may also switch between calls. With some providers it can be combined with additional features such a ...
,
mobile number portability
Mobile number portability (MNP) enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network carrier to another.
General overview
Mobile number portability is implemented in varying ways across ...
and
toll-free telephone number (800) service. It also pioneered the prepaid charging system and the
Intelligent Network
The Intelligent Network (IN) is the standard network architecture specified in the ITU-T Q.1200 series recommendations. It is intended for fixed as well as mobile telecom networks. It allows operators to differentiate themselves by providing va ...
.
Headquartered in
Bridgewater, New Jersey
Bridgewater Township is a township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The township is both a regional commercial hub for Central New Jersey (home to Bridgewater Commons and different corporate headquarters) and is a bedroom suburb ...
(U.S.), iconectiv provides network and operations management, numbering, registry and fraud prevention services for the global telecommunications industry. It provides numbering services in more than a dozen countries, including serving as the Local Number Portability Administrator (LNPA) for the United States. In that capacity, iconectiv manages the
Number Portability Administration Center The Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) is a function of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States. It administers the routing of telephone calls and text messages (SMS) for the telecommunications industry and its ...
(NPAC), the system that supports the implementation of local number portability.
Founding
iconectiv was established on October 20, 1983, as Central Services Organization as part of the 1982
Modification of Final Judgment that broke up the
Bell System
The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hund ...
. It later received the name Bell Communications Research. Nicknamed Bellcore, it was a consortium established by the
Regional Holding Companies upon their separation from AT&T. Since AT&T retained
Bell Laboratories
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
, the operating companies desired a separate research and development facility. Bellcore, the
tenth company to register an Internet domain name in
comTLD, provided joint research and development, was involved in standards setting, training, and centralized government point-of-contact functions for its co-owners, the seven Regional Holding Companies that were themselves divested from AT&T as holding companies for the 22 local Bell Operating Companies.
Bellcore's initial staff and corporate culture were drawn from the nearby Bell Laboratories locations in northern New Jersey, plus additional staff from AT&T and regional operating companies. The company originally had its headquarters in
Livingston with dedication by
New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean in 1985, but moved its headquarters to
Morristown a decade later. Bellcore also operated the former Bell System Center for Technical Education in
Lisle, Illinois.
Separation from the Baby Bells
In 1996, the company was provisionally acquired by
Science Applications International Corporation
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Inc. is an American technology company headquartered in Reston, Virginia that provides government services and information technology support.
History
The original SAIC was created in 196 ...
(SAIC).
The sale was closed one year later, following a regulatory approval process that covered all the states individually. Since the divested company no longer had any ownership connection with the Bell regional companies, the name was changed to Telcordia Technologies. in 1999. The headquarters was moved to
Piscataway, New Jersey.
The former headquarters campus in Morristown and its offices and laboratories in Red Bank, New Jersey, are former Bell Labs locations that were transferred to Telcordia.
Equal stakes in the company were sold in March 2005 to
Providence Equity Partners and
Warburg Pincus.
Acquisition by Ericsson
On June 14, 2011,
Ericsson announced an agreement to acquire Telcordia for $1.15 billion. On January 12, 2012, Telcordia became a wholly owned subsidiary of Ericsson.
On June 15, 2011, Ericsson announced the completion of the purchase from
private-equity firms
Providence Equity Partners and
Warburg Pincus, with the goal to pursue industry trends that include
mobile broadband,
managed services/
outsourcing
Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...
and global
OSS
OSS or Oss may refer to:
Places
* Oss, a city and municipality in the Netherlands
* Osh Airport, IATA code OSS
People with the name
* Oss (surname), a surname
Arts and entertainment
* ''O.S.S.'' (film), a 1946 World War II spy film about ...
/
BSS transformation. The acquisition, which officially closed on January 12, 2012, added about 2,600 employees to Ericsson's staff. On June 4, 2012, Telcordia and its products were officially
rebranded as Ericsson.
In the process of integration, Telcordia's Advanced Technology Solutions business unit, the company's research arm, was rebranded as
Applied Communication Sciences
Peraton Labs, previously branded as "Applied Communication Sciences,"
is a communications and information research and engineering company based in the United States. Previously the R&D arm of Telcordia Technologies, the company became a busines ...
, and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Ericsson that operated independently on day-to-day operations pursuant to a proxy structure mandated by the U.S. government. In October 2012, Applied Communication Sciences relocated its headquarters to
Basking Ridge
Basking Ridge is an unincorporated community located within Bernards Township in the Somerset Hills region of Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the population for the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) 07920 wa ...
, New Jersey, occupying the former headquarters of AT&T Wireless.
In February 2013, Ericsson launched ''iconectiv'' for its interconnection business. During this time, Ericsson maintained its corporate presence in
Plano, Texas and iconectiv's corporate presence in New Jersey. In July 2017, iconectiv moved its headquarters from
Piscataway to
Bridgewater,
New Jersey.
Francisco Partners investment
On August 10, 2017,
Francisco Partners
Francisco Partners is an American private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses. Founded in August 1999 and based in San Francisco with offices in London and New York City, Francis ...
announced a $200 million investment in iconectiv and received a 16.7 percent ownership stake in the company.
Notable clients
In 2015, iconectiv won a contract procured by the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate the
Number Portability Administration Center The Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) is a function of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States. It administers the routing of telephone calls and text messages (SMS) for the telecommunications industry and its ...
(NPAC). The service had been operated by
Neustar Inc. for 18 years. iconectiv completed the transition from Neustar on May 29, 2018 becoming the Local Number Portability Administrator (LNPA) for the United States.
iconectiv was awarded the contract from CTIA to provide
Common Short Code
codes, or short numbers, are short digit sequences, significantly shorter than telephone numbers, that are used to address messages in the Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) and short message service (SMS) systems of mobile network operators. I ...
(CSC) Registry Services, effective January 1, 2016.
In 2019, the Secure Telephone Identity Governance Authority (STI-GA) selected iconnectiv as the U.S. STI Policy Administrator for supervising measures to ensure voice calls have accurate
caller ID
Caller identification (Caller ID) is a telephone service, available in analog and digital telephone systems, including voice over IP (VoIP), that transmits a caller (telecommunications), caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone ...
.
See also
*
LERG Routing Guide
The Local Exchange Routing Guide (LERG) is a database of telecommunications numbering resources for use in the administration and operation of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) by the NANP administrator (NANPA) and telecommunications servi ...
References
External links
*
Telcordia Generic RequirementsTelcordia is now part of Ericsson
{{Authority control
Bell System
Research and development organizations
Companies based in Middlesex County, New Jersey
Telecommunications companies established in 1983
Piscataway, New Jersey
American subsidiaries of foreign companies
2012 mergers and acquisitions
Ericsson