OSS Line

Some More Tribold Investment

Yesterday, Tribold announced a funding round of Some Money for strategic investment purposes.

This follows $11 million back in January 2009 from Intel, DFJ Esprit and my local VC, Eden Ventures.

This time the value of the investment has not been disclosed. Nor has Eden contributed to this round, as far as I can tell from the PR.

Nic Brisbourne (who’s blog you really should check out), partner at DFJ Esprit, added: “As an existing investor in Tribold, we are confident of the company, its technology and its management. The involvement of Intel Capital also confirms Tribold’s potential for us. We’re also happy to have had the opportunity to increase our own investment in the company.”

Management World 2010 Q&A - Tribold

OSS Line continues its quest to find out what software vendors and service providers are expecting from TM Forum’s Management World 2010. What’s rad? What's bogus? And why do we make the trip to Nice every year?

Ernest Margitta, Marketing Director at Tribold, has been kind enough to provide his perspective on the show.

Since formation in 2003 Tribold has been evangelical about the need for telcos to adopt product management to support BSS and OSS processes. What are you currently offering to address this need?

Tribold is the world’s leading provider of Enterprise Product Management (EPM) software specifically developed for Communication Service Providers (CSPs). Tribold EPM™ is a single, integrated suite of Enterprise Product Management applications that empowers CSPs to put products at the heart of their business.

Tribold EPM™ is based on a Centralized Product & Service Catalog (CPC) and a Product & Service Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution.

Tribold has had a fairly high profile at Management World in the past with speaking slots and involvement in catalyst projects. What’s new for 2010?

We'll be making two key customer announcements in North America and in Asia Pacific.  Tribold will also be announcing a pre-integration to Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Tribo0ld is involved in two Forumville projects:

• Service Model - Cloud 9. Qwest, Cisco, Comptel, Progress Software, Tribold and Verecloud will demonstrate how Qwest are able to quickly deliver bundles of communication products and equipment which their Small to Medium-sized business customers require to operate their businesses.
• Dynamic Content Delivery (WAVES). A project in conjunction with Microsoft to define a multi-industry reference architecture enabling consumers to access and view content over any available network connection using any convenient device at the time of their choosing.

Any guesses on what will be the three most over-used buzz-words this year?

Cloud. Cloud. Cloud.

I suspect so! Despite the tendency for the show to jump on technology bandwagons, do you think TMW is still the principal show for our industry, and what do you expect to get from it this year?

Yes. Tribold's role as a thought leader in the industry focused specifically on EPM has been gained through deep involvement in the TMF working groups and catalysts.  We will continue this leadership at TMW Nice 2010 while engaging directly with our customers and prospects.

What feature of Nice should first-time visitors not miss?

Forumville.

Not exactly what I meant, but I do agree! Forumville is underrated. You get to see products in action, evaluate TMF standards, and talk to real people (not marketeers like me) who are usually the smartest folks in the company. Check it out.

But it’s not all work, work, work in Nice. Where are the parties at?

Tribold and Sigma are hosting a drinks reception on a rooftop terrace overlooking the Mediterranean sea on Wednesday.  Drop by the Tribold booth for an invitation.

Will do. Thanks again to Ernest Margitta for his insight. To learn more about Tribold go to Expo booth #7, or drop a mail to marketing@tribold.com.

Tribold. Kerching! $11 Million in VC Funding

Tribold have announced an injection of US$11 Million from venture capitalists Intel Capital, DFJ Esprit and Eden Ventures. The PR is here.

Light Reading has a good write-up on the boost to Tribold’s reputation from not only being able to secure funding in a difficult economic climate, but also from apparently being sought-out by Intel Capital.

Tribold is an interesting company. They are an OSS/BSS company focused on product lifecycle management, PLM (there are many alternative names and acronyms). PLM addresses the need for telcos to understand what products they can offer specific customers, how their pricing changes depending on factors like bundling or promotion, what products are complimentary or mandatory. That sort of thing. PLM also provides essential integration, typically with CRM, order management, billing and fulfilment to ensure all systems involved in delivering the product have an aligned understanding of the product specification. The big guys have broadly similar solutions: Amdocs Enterprise Product Catalog and Telcordia Dynamic Service Catalog, for example. Tribold however are a relative young company with one solution to focus on. It’s actually a pretty complex area to address with an off-the-shelf product, and the market also needs thought leadership. So good to have a start-up mixing things up a bit, spending plenty of marketing dollars and drumming-up some interest.

A while back, I was product manager for Amdocs Service Catalog (now part of Service Composition Manager, I believe), which isn’t directly competitive with Tribold, but addresses a similar need to manage a product’s technical specification lifecycle. What was obvious, and made that particular job interesting, was how the market didn’t really understand the problem or the solution yet. Can a service catalogue manage commercial specifications? Can a PLM manage technical specifications? Where’s the line drawn between OSS and BSS? Is the product model built by my engineers, product managers or marketing teams? And so on. Reminded me of selling OSS inventory market back in 1999.

Great news then, that Tribold gets a high-profile investment. Hopefully it will be seen as a vote of confidence and make product lifecycle management, and the broader product/service catalogue solution space, become more accepted as critical OSS/BSS components.