Hammer Technologies (formerly known as Empirix) is an American company which designs and manufactures
service assurance testing and monitoring equipment for IP-based communications networks such as Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (
VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...
), IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based,
next generation network and
5G wireless networks.
Hammer is headquartered in
Billerica, MA
Billerica ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 42,119 according to the 2020 census. It takes its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England.
History
In the early 1630s, a Praying Indian ...
. On April 21, 2021, Hammer was acquired by Infovista, a Network automation software. Infovista, which is majority owned by Apax Partners France, today known as Seven2, said the deal “brings together a team of over 1,000 professionals serving over 1,700 customers across more than 150 countries, including 23 of the top 30 CSPs globally
”
History
Hammer Technologies was founded by Steve Gladstone and John Kuenzig in late 1991.
On September 6, 2000, the Hammer test technology was spun out of Teradyne and became Empirix Inc.
Alex d'Arbeloff, co-founder of Teradyne, was appointed chairman of the board.
On June 6, 2008, Empirix sold its e-TEST suite, a set of Web application testing products, to
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 ...
. The company then focused on developing products for testing and monitoring voice quality, contact center equipment and enterprise communications networks as well as carrier grade products for mobile, cable and telecom operators.
The July 2010 acquisition of Mutina Technology S.p.A. expanded the company's offerings to cover
Mobile Broadband
Mobile broadband is the marketing term for Wireless broadband, wireless Internet access via mobile network, mobile (cell) networks. Access to the network can be made through a portable modem, wireless modem, or a Tablet computer, tablet/smartp ...
(MBB), Next Generation Networks (NGN),
SS7/
SIGTRAN Signaling,
VoD/
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...
, and IP Core for telecom and enterprise networks.
In November 2013, Empirix was acquired by
Thoma Bravo
Thoma Bravo, LP is an American private equity and growth capital firm based in Chicago, Illinois. It is known for being particularly active in acquiring enterprise software companies and has over $130billion in assets under management .
It ...
LLC, a private equity partnership.
In April 2021
Empirix was acquired by Infovista
In October 2022
Empirix rebranded as Hammer
In January 2024, Hammer updated their legal entity name from Empirix Inc. to Hammer Technologies Inc.
Technology
The company's core Hammer technology was designed to automate the testing of IP communications networks, applications and services. It models realistic user behavior and emulates the associated session-based, network traffic to measure real-time voice and video quality as well as the performance of the underlying infrastructure. This capability enables real-world load testing of pre-production VoIP,
Unified Communications
Unified communications (UC) is a business and marketing concept describing the integration of enterprise communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, voice (including IP telephony), mobility features (including ...
, IMS, NGN, mobile and other IP-based networks, applications and equipment. Hammer testing predicts both network traffic issues and the quality of the end-user, customer experience.
Empirix adapted the Hammer test technology to provide on-going monitoring for in-production contact centers, enterprise communications systems as well as telecommunications, cable and mobile operators. Empirix has more than 30 patents and patents-pending.
Clients and partners
Notable deployments of Empirix technology include
China Mobile
China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese State-owned enterprises of China, state-owned telecommunicationsStrait deals ''The Econ ...
,
lastminute.com,
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity founded as the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (LSPCC) by Thomas Agnew on 19 April 1883. The NSPCC lobbies t ...
,
Suddenlink
Suddenlink was an American telecommunications subsidiary of Altice USA trading in cable television, broadband, IP telephony, home security, and advertising. Prior to its acquisition by Altice, the company was the seventh largest cable operator ...
, and
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
.
Empirix's partners include
Accenture
Accenture plc is a global multinational professional services company originating in the United States and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, that specializes in information technology (IT) services and management consulting. It was founded in 1 ...
,
Avaya
Avaya LLC(), formerly Avaya Inc., is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, that provides cloud communications and workstream collaboration services. The company's platform includes unified commun ...
,
Genesys,
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
,
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 ...
, Intervoice,
Nuance Communications
Nuance Communications, Inc. is an American multinational computer software technology corporation, headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, that markets speech recognition and artificial intelligence software.
Nuance merged with its comp ...
, and Sonus.
Publications and research
Empirix has published a book about testing and monitoring IMS subsystems and services entitled “Ensuring a Quality IMS Experience: A Practical Guide to Testing and Monitoring IP Multimedia Subsystem and Services.” In addition, the company has sponsored a DMG Consulting research study entitled, “Business As Usual? A Benchmarking Study of Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity for Contact Centers.”
Empirix also sponsored the “Companies Unifying the Conversational Contact Center” survey and report created by Opus Research.
Survey Results: Companies Unifying the Conversational Contact Center
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Memberships
* European Competitive Telecommunications Association
Further reading
*
References
{{Reflist
Software companies based in Massachusetts
Companies established in 1992
Telecommunications equipment vendors
Networking companies
Defunct software companies of the United States