Comverse
 Comverse     | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Formation | 4 October 1984 |
| Founder | • Kobi Alexander • Boaz Misholi • Yechiam Yemini |
| Extinction | 4 February 2013? |
| Headquarters | Woodbury, Nassau County, New York, United States |
| Type | commercial |
| Subgroups | • Odigo • Verint Systems |
| Staff | 4,500 |
| Slogan | Enabling Network Software |
Comverse Infosys is a tech company, which while headquartered in the US, does most of its research and development in Israel. Founders include Kobi Alexander who reportedly made over $100 million in one year (2000) by exercising stock options. Comverse is reimbursed for up to 50% of its R&D costs by Israel's ministry of industry and trade.[1]
Activities
With the backing of the Israeli government, Comverse offered both services for phone providers and surveillance tools for government and law enforcement agencies to record conversations.[2][1]
Wiretapping in USA
The 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement act authorised a new system of wiretapping in USA. Comverse's computer software has been charged with having a backdoor that allows interception of wiretaps by unauthorised parties, a claim which was never investigated, but derived in part from suspects changing their behaviour to evade surveillance immediately they were made subjects of wiretapping.[1]
On the day of 9/11, Comverse owned Odigo.
When the 7/7 bombings occurred, Comverse owned Verint Systems which claimed that none of the London Underground CCTV cameras were working on that day.
Related Quotation
| Page | Quote | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 8200 | “Take Nice, Comverse and Check Point for example, three of the largest high-tech companies, which were all directly influenced by 8200 technology, "Check Point was founded by Unit alumni. Comverse's main product, the Logger, is based on the Unit's technology. Look at Metacafe, one of the hottest companies today. Eyal Herzog, one of the founders, is also an 8200 alumnus and he accumulated a huge amount of relevant experience in the Unit.” | Hanan Gefen | 8 February 2007 |
