TTI Team Telecom International Ltd. CEO Interview: Meir Lipshes

• On 3:53 pm EDT, Tuesday August 25, 2009

67 WALL STREET, New York - August 25, 2009 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Application Software Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 111 page feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Upgrade Cycle for Application Software -- Software as a Service -- Cloud Computing -- Virtualization Software -- Government Software Sales Cycle -- Demise of Unix -- Installed Base of Microsoft Software -- Installed Base of Oracle Software

Companies include: Microsoft (MSFT); VMware (VMW); Oracle (ORCL); RedHat (RHAT); Sybase (SY); Google (GOOG); Symantec (SYMC); Avocent (AVCT); Novell (NOVL); SolarWinds (SWI);CommVault (CVLT); Data Domain (DDUP); IBM (IBM); SPSS Inc. (SPSS); Steel Vault (SVUL); StrikeForce Technologies (SFOR); Jagged Peak (JGPK); Lyris, Inc. (LYRI); Saba Software, Inc. (SABA); TTI Team Telecom International (TTIL); AMICAS, Inc. (AMCS); Sonic Solutions (SNIC); BluePhoenix Solutions Ltd (BPHX); ArcSight, Inc. (ARST); Etelo, Inc. (ETLO); Pansoft Company Limited (PSOF); Exobox Technologies Corp. (EXBX); PROS Holdings, Inc. (PRO); Proginet Corporation (PFGF); Versant (VSNT); Wyndstorm Corp. (WYND); China Digital TV Holding Co. (STV); QAD Inc. (QADI); Magic Software Enterprises, Inc. (MGIC); Wizzard Software Corp. (WZE); SXC Health Solutions Corp. (SXCI); Telvent (TLVT).

In the following brief excerpt from the 111 page report, Meir Lipshes, CEO of TTI Team Telecom International Ltd., discusses the company and the outlook for the sector and for investors.

TWST: Would you begin with a brief overview of TTI Telecom?

Mr. Lipshes: We are a manufacturer of software products and commenced operations in 1991. It's a software doing what is called OSS products, which enables telecom operators to manage the networks. In 1996, we went public with Oppenheimer bank, and since then we operate worldwide. We have about 70 customers who are generally large telecom service providers. We are headquartered in the Tel Aviv area, Israel, with several offices around the world. Our largest offices are in the US, that is, in Hoboken and Atlanta. We have about 300 employees and our yearly turnover is about $45 million.

TWST: What do you believe will be the significant trends, developments or changes in your sector of the market over the next two to three years?

Mr. Lipshes: The main reasons for the changes in our industry are due to the evolvement of next generation networks, to which many of the large operators have committed. Unfortunately, at this moment it's a slow process because of the recession, but the plans are in place and we believe that this is going to happen. Once this happens, it will open a window of opportunity, managing the next-generation networks.

TWST: How big is the market that TTI Telecom addresses, and how fast is it growing?

Mr. Lipshes: The total service assurance market is about $2 billion. It is growing between 5% to 7% on a yearly basis. Most of this market is served internally within the operation itself. That is, products and services are done within the operation. However, there is a trend emerging to outsource these services, and this is one of our opportunities.

TWST: What are the customer segments that TTI Telecom targets, and what is it about your product or service that is most compelling to these customers?

Mr. Lipshes: We are supplying our products and services to Tier-1 and Tier-2 customers such as AT&T, France Telecom and others worldwide. These types of customers find our product, which has been in the market for a long time and is very scalable, to be an appealing solution. We have mature products that can handle very large networks and maintain large scale networks and data.

TWST: Would you please make a case for your company versus its competition and tell us what are your advantages?

Mr. Lipshes: We believe we have the best technology available today, based on the latest IT technologies. So we have the best-quality product - it's innovative, scalable, and it can handle large-scale networks. Secondly, we have a suite of applications, so we can handle the service assurance market segment from end to end. For example, we have fault management and performance management, and now we are investing in some new technologies like customer experience and others. Thirdly, sometimes we also do the integration of products that have already been sold; that is, we do the customization and integration on the customer site. In addition, being a smaller company, we are also more flexible than the larger companies that operate in this market.

TWST: What are your specific goals for the company over the next two years in terms of market position and growth?

Mr. Lipshes: We have a current strategy and a long-term strategy. In the short term, because of the recession, most of our energy goes towards our balance sheet, ensuring that we are in a good cash flow position. It's very important when serving large-scale operators to have a healthy balance sheet so they are not skeptical about working with us and understand that we will be around for a long time to come. In regards to the longer-term strategy, we would like to become the leader platform for the OSS market. We believe we can do it based on our technology and on the new applications for the next generation of customized products that we are currently developing.

The Wall Street Transcript is a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs and research analysts. This 111 page special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online .

The Wall Street Transcript does not endorse the views of any interviewees nor does it make stock recommendations.

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