SingTel and Amdocs opened a joint development center in Israel. SingTel L!feLabs @ Israel with Amdocs is the first such collaboration in Israel by a service provider from Asia Pacific and will serve as a gateway for local start-ups into the fastest-growing region in the world. More information in the Press Release.
SingTel opens international development center in Israel
- In collaboration with Amdocs, SingTel L!feLabs @ Israel will identify, nurture and commercialize innovative technologies by Israeli start-ups
- Potential to reach more than 470 million mobile customers of the SingTel Group
RA’ANANA, SINGAPORE, ST. LOUIS – March 3, 2013 – Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel), Asia’s leading communications group and the largest multi-country mobile operator in the world, and Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of customer experience systems and services, today opened a joint development center in Israel.
SingTel L!feLabs @ Israel with Amdocs is the first such collaboration in Israel by a service provider from Asia Pacific and will serve as a gateway for local start-ups into the fastest-growing region in the world.
SingTel’s move into Israel is part of its strategic plan to increase investments in research and development. This is also part of its recently established global innovation initiative, L!feLabs, to inspire and enable ideas to become reality. It aims to accelerate innovation through collaboration with strategic partners, renowned research institutes as well as eco-systems of start-ups and incubators for which Israel is so renowned.
SingTel L!feLabs @ Israel with Amdocs will focus on reaching out to the local community of entrepreneurs to develop capabilities in key areas as well as conduct proof of concepts and the eventual commercialization of innovative technologies, products and services in the 26 countries where the SingTel Group operates.
In conjunction with the opening of the development center, SingTel is launching the L!feLabs website (http://www.singtellifelabs.
Three areas for new investments
In addition to the development center, SingTel will invest in three key areas in Israel:
- Investment in young Israeli start-up companies, whether through a direct investment of capital or active co-operation aimed at advancing developments and technologies that match SingTel’s future plans.
- Working with Israeli academic or research institutes by funding studies conducted by the country’s universities or working on ideas created in such institutions. The aim is to develop them into products and services which SingTel will sell across the countries it operates in.
- Working with incubators and the angel community to look for interesting business and technology ideas from Israel. SingTel’s initial focus will be on voice and facial recognition as well as technologies that enable mobile and Wi-fi networks to work more efficiently and seamlessly.
A strong partner in innovation
Allen Lew, Chief Executive Officer of Group Digital L!fe, SingTel, said: “As we move SingTel beyond just communications into becoming a multimedia digital provider, innovation is key to our transformation. Never before have we seen technology and business models changing so rapidly. To stay ahead of the market and anticipate customer needs, we have significantly expanded our investments in digital services that will help our customers discover new services, be informed, entertained or more productive.”
He noted: “We have been extremely satisfied with the wealth of talent in Israel. We experienced this through our recently acquired global mobile advertising company Amobee which has a technology center in Israel, as well as through our venture capital investments in two Israeli companies[1] in the mobile Internet business. This has propelled us to open this new development center to scout for new growth engines for SingTel.”
Mr. Lew added: “Through this partnership with Amdocs and SingTel L!feLabs @ Israel, we are embedding ourselves in one of the leading innovation hubs of the world. We are committed to engaging the local innovation community. Our financial investment in Israel will be determined according to the value of projects. In SingTel, we have a corporate venture fund of S$200 million. Part of this fund will also reach Israel.”
“Amdocs has been dedicated to the communications industry for over 30 years and today our 20,000 employees serve the world’s leading service providers in over 60 countries,” said Eli Gelman, chief executive officer of Amdocs Management Limited. “Opening a joint development and innovation center with a global leader such as the SingTel Group is a significant milestone in our history. It demonstrates the importance our customers place on our innovative offerings as well as our ability to accelerate and foster innovation by working together with the start-up community.”
Mr. Gelman added: “We believe that this innovation and development center is a win-win-win opportunity which will benefit all those involved: the SingTel Group, Amdocs and young Israeli companies and start-ups.
Scouting, coaching and piloting projects
The center is a co-investment between SingTel and Amdocs and will be hosted on Amdocs’ Ra’anana campus.
SingTel and Amdocs staff at the center will work closely with SingTel business stakeholders to map the group’s growth needs, scout for relevant, innovative technologies that can fuel this growth and coach selected partners through business planning and project pilots. Successful projects will be fast-tracked onto SingTel’s business approval process to accelerate their time to market.
For the past five years, Amdocs has been methodologically fostering start-up innovation, and today has 75 active start-up partner companies, innovation programs at 12 universities worldwide, and more than 20 solutions incorporating start-up technology.
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About SingTel
SingTel is Asia’s leading communications group with operations and investments around the world. With significant operations in Singapore and Australia (through wholly-owned subsidiary SingTel Optus), the Group provides a comprehensive portfolio of services that includes voice and data solutions over fixed, wireless and Internet platforms, as well as infocomm technology and pay TV.
The Group has presence in Asia and Africa with 473 million mobile customers in 26 countries, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
In September 2010, SingTel established a corporate venture capital fund, SingTel Innov8, with an initial fund size of S$200 million. It works closely with the ecosystem of innovators, developers, government agencies, R&D and capital providers to bring cutting-edge technologies and solutions to the markets the SingTel Group operates in.
SingTel employs more than 20,000 people worldwide. It had a turnover of S$18.83 billion (US$14.97 billion) and net profit after tax of S$3.99 billion (US$3.17 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2012. More information can be found at www.singtel.com.
About Amdocs
For more than 30 years, Amdocs has ensured service providers’ success and embraced their biggest challenges. To win in the connected world, service providers rely on Amdocs to simplify the customer experience, harness the data explosion, stay ahead with new services and improve operational efficiency. The global company uniquely combines a market-leading BSS, OSS and network control product portfolio with value-driven professional services and managed services operations. With revenue of $3.2 billion in fiscal 2012, Amdocs and its 20,000 employees serve customers in more than 60 countries.
Amdocs: Embrace Challenge, Experience Success.
For more information, visit Amdocs at www.amdocs.com
Amdocs’ Forward-Looking Statement
This press release includes information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Amdocs’ growth and business results in future quarters. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be obtained or that any deviations will not be material. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to, the effects of general economic conditions, Amdocs’ ability to grow in the business markets that it serves, Amdocs’ ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses, adverse effects of market competition, rapid technological shifts that may render the Company’s products and services obsolete, potential loss of a major customer, our ability to develop long-term relationships with our customers, and risks associated with operating businesses in the international market. Amdocs may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future; however, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These and other risks are discussed at greater length in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012 filed on December 11, 2012 and our Form 6-K furnished for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 on February 12, 2013.
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