Open Development Corp, Norwood, Massachusetts supplier of enhanced services systems and pre-paid calling applications, raised $12m in a private placing. The venture capital will be used for capital purchases, such as a new customer service center and customer education center; product development; enlargement of the sales force; and future expansion into new global markets. The company now employs 120 people, up from 30 at the beginning of the year, and did $14.6m in the first nine months of the year. The new customer service center, for completion in January, is intended to enable Open Development to provide high-quality 24- hour support, seven days a week. The company also plans to implement new help desk software and increase personnel staffing. The customer education center, also for completion next quarter, is intended to increase greatly the company’s capacity to train new customers – its educational requirements are expected to grow to nearly 5,000 student days next year, a tenfold increase on 500 days in 1996.The offering was managed by Alex Brown & Sons Inc.
