Comverse

Comverse
Founder	• Kobi Alexander • Boaz Misholi • Yechiam Yemini
Type	commercial
Headquarters	Woodbury, Nassau County, New York, United States
Subgroups	• Odigo • Verint Systems
Staff	4,500
Slogan	Enabling Network Software
Website	http://www.cmvt.com

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.

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.

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.

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.