For VeriSign, the deal follows acquisitions of Unimobile in mobile messaging and Jamba! in mobile multimedia content services, part of VeriSign’s strategy to be a back-end infrastructure provider for converged wired and wireless networks.
LightSurf provides a managed, hosted service that enables carriers to offer their customers MMS services that can interoperate between carriers. End users can send pictures and video to each other.
LightSurf’s customer base includes mobile carriers Sprint, Bell Mobility, Kodak, mm02, Rogers Wireless, Microcell, Telecom New Zealand, Iusacell, and Qwest.
VeriSign CEO Stratton Sclavos said that the acquisition should close this quarter, and will add a minimum of $30 to revenue this year. It will be neutral to earnings this year and slightly accretive next year, he said.
LightSurf had been on the IPO track, and had planned to use its offering proceeds to fund expansion outside its native North America, where it currently does most of its business.
VeriSign said its existing footprint will accelerate this. In the second half of this year we’d like to be making sales calls on some of those customers in Europe and Latin America, Sclavos said.
LightSurf’s offering can extend from the handset to the back-end. In some cases, such as with Sprint, some handset customization is necessary. In other cases, there’s more of an arms-length relationship, the firm said.
LightSurf’s competition is essentially internal development, said Phillippe Kahn, LightSurf’s founder and chairman. It’s great because it’s always a ‘make versus buy’.
Sclavos said the deal differs from the Jamba deal in that LightSurf essentially enables end users to swap content they have created, while Jamba provides professional content. There is some scope for the services to be integrated for the carrier, he said.
