Ex-Alcatel-Lucent Unit Genesys Has Its Indepedence Day

Contact center specialist Genesys this week offered a few details on how it will operate as a new company following its sale to private equity investors by former parent Alcatel-Lucent.

The company, backed by Permira and Technology Crossover Ventures, became officially independent Feb. 1. Alcatel-Lucent confirmed the sale of Genesys in October, ending several months' worth of speculation that Alcatel-Lucent would spin off or sell its entire enterprise networking unit.

Permira and Technology Crossover Ventures acquired Genesys for approximately $1.5 billion.

"We are building on the incredible story that is Genesys and launching the company into its new future," Paul Segre, Genesys president and CEO, said in a statement. "We are on a singular mission to save the world from bad customer service."

Segre and Genesys' existing senior management team remain in place, and Genesys remains based in Daly City, Calif. In a statement, Genesys said it would stay focused on the contact center space and expand its product portfolio to emphasize cloud computing, analytics, workforce optimization, process workflow and social networking.

Genesys has more than 2,000 customers in 80 countries, according to the company. In a separate statement, Alcatel-Lucent noted that Genesys did about $500 million in revenue for 2010, and that its approximately 1,800 global employees had all transferred to the stand-alone company.

Alcatel-Lucent, meanwhile, has a new enterprise president, Michel Emelianoff, to kick off the next era in its now-streamlined enterprise unit. At the time of the Genesys announcement, Alcatel-Lucent said it would keep its enterprise unit after all, months after saying it was "exploring options" for the business. Enterprise represents about 10 percent of Alcatel-Lucent's roughly $20.9 billion in annual revenue.

Alcatel, which became Alcatel-Lucent after merging with Lucent Technologies in 2006, had acquired Genesys in 2000.