Amdocs acquisition of Openet brings together two players with meaningful assets in policy. Amdocs acquired a well-respected policy engine (for charging and access control functions) with its purchase of Bridgewater systems. At the same time, Openet was building out its policy engine and PCRF as part of its push in real-time charging as an extension of its real-time mediation.
While it’s great to have two competent policy environments, this raises a series of challenges and questions for Amdocs:
- Will both survive? If so does this split their focus and resources?
- Or will one survive – or one “superset” solution be created, raising the question of rules library compatibility going forward…
- Is there a logical way to combine the best attributes of each system?
In yesterday’s acquisition briefing call, Avishai Sharlin, Head of Amdocs Technology and Niall Norton, CEO of Openet gave an early indication of their thinking. Avishai said they were particularly looking to leverage the Openet Charging and Policy engine, to support their 5G offer. It seems that Amdocs is seeking to leverage the strengths of the Openet portfolio in its future product evolution.