Aricent
| Company type | Defunct Company (acquired by Altran) |
|---|---|
| Industry | R&D Services |
| Founded | 1985 (Future Software Communications); 1991 (Hughes Software Systems); merged after acquisition in 2004. |
| Defunct | 2019 |
| Headquarters | Santa Clara, California and subsequently New York, New York (USA) Gurgaon, Haryana (India) |
| Products | Product and service engineering (primarily digital and software solutions) |
Number of employees | 10,000 |
Aricent was an international design and engineering services organization that became part of the French firm Altran in 2018. It was renamed Altran North America in 2019 and then Altran Americas in 2020. After Altran’s acquisition by Capgemini, Aricent’s operations were absorbed into Capgemini Engineering and Capgemini Invent.
The company focused on telecommunications software engineering, catering to prominent clients including Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks, Nokia Networks, Oracle, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, and Nortel.
History
The origins of Aricent trace back to Hughes Software Systems (HSS), which was founded in 1991 as a subsidiary of Hughes Electronics with investment from Sequoia Capital. Significant developments include:
- 1985: Future Software Communications was established by KV Ramani; later merged with Hughes Software.
- 1991: KV Ramani founded HSS in New Delhi, concentrating on VSAT networks, cellular wireless technologies, packet switching, and protocol stack development.
- 2004: Flextronics acquired HSS, creating Flextronics Software Systems; merged with Future Software; also purchased Frog Design for approximately $25 million.
- 2005: Expanded its development footprint to Ukraine, South Africa, and China; voluntarily delisted from the Indian stock exchange prior to sale.
- 2006: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Sequoia Capital acquired the company for $900 million, marking India’s largest private equity transaction at that time.
- 2007: Purchased Datalinx and introduced service provider solutions.
- 2008: Received additional capital from The Family Office based in Bahrain.
- 2011: Rebranded as Aricent Group; inaugurated an engineering center in Vietnam.
- 2013: Simplified brand name to Aricent.
- 2015: Acquired semiconductor services company SmartPlay Technologies for $180 million, adding over 1,200 employees to its workforce.
- 2018: Taken over by Altran; operated under the name Altran North America.
- 2019: Announcement made regarding Capgemini’s intention to acquire Altran.
- 2020: Capgemini finalized the acquisition of Altran; former Aricent personnel were integrated into Capgemini Engineering; Frog Design became part of Capgemini Invent.
See also
References
Categories:
- Privately held companies based in New Jersey
- Defunct software companies of the United States
- Companies based in Palo Alto, California
- Software companies established in 1991
- Software companies of Ukraine
- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts companies
- 1991 establishments in California
- 2020 disestablishments in California
- Software companies disestablished in 2020
- 2020 mergers and acquisitions