Concord Ventures general partner Shai Schiller, a former senior executive at Comverse Technology (Nasdaq: CMVT) and CEO of Emblaze Systems (LSE:BLZ), was appointed chairman of CTI² last night. CTI² develops messaging added value service platforms for telecom providers, and plans to conquer the communications market. A professional chairman can open doors in the international telecom market, and Schiller was first choice.

Sources inform “Globes” that Schiller’s appointment is just the first step. Other professionals from the global telecom market will probably join the company’s board of directors soon.

At Comverse, Schiller was responsible for Asia and the Pacific. He was then appointed director of Comverse’s intelligent network division, but before he could take up the post, he was headhunted for CEO at Emblaze. He later resigned and moved to Concord, where he was responsible for information technology with a specialization in wireless and cellular networks.

Schiller’s appointment as CTI² chairman is a very heavy blow for Comverse. Schiller brings to CTI² some of Comverse’s most important assets: internal know-how about its working methods and performance. Schiller has intimate knowledge about Comverse’s customers and distributors worldwide, and which Comverse employees are worth hiring for CTI².

Comverse is now CTI²’s biggest competitor in the added value services market. It can therefore be assumed that CTI² will direct most of its sales and marketing efforts in the coming years to attract Comverse’s customers to buy its own added value services platform.

Under these circumstances, say telecom industry sources, Schiller’s assets extend beyond technical know-how. After all, an added value services provider’s most importance assets are its customers, partners, distributors and development staff. These assets are the foundation for CTI²’s future growth and winning market segments from competitors, headed by Comverse.

As previously mentioned, Schiller’s last job at Comverse was director for Asia and the Pacific. This region is considered one of the few growth markets in the foreseeable future, and CTI² is expected to benefit from its connections in this market. Schiller also has other important connections in the global telecom market from his jobs at Emblaze and Concord. He is also experienced in raising capital and holding issues.

As for distribution channels, an accepted method in the telecom market is to seek the assistance of local companies in particular countries. Schiller can open important doors of major distributors for CTI², especially distributors currently working with Comverse.

As part of job at Concord, Schiller is also chairman of Celltrex, a developer of mobile e-mail and MMS (multimedia messaging services). Schiller is continuously involved with the global telecom market in this job, too.

“Globes”: Why did you decide to join CTI²?

Schiller: “CTI² has good managers, a strong board of directors and the right attitude. Looking at the next 10-15 years in the added value services sector of the telecom market, shows that modern open systems architecture is the right way to go. CTI²’s architecture provides maximum flexibility for the adding of new services in the future, exploiting resources and cost-benefit ratios in the most efficient manner.

“Another factor operating to CTI²’s advantage is that has a lean and mean management. It’s a very modest company, informal, no extraneous personnel, and a lot of very talented people who have followed CEO Erez Marom for many years. Erez is an extremely charismatic executive. Telecom operators throughout the world love the company and consider it very professional and cooperative.

“Another of CTI²’s strong points is its very strong business partners, who believe in the company. A great many business partnerships in the telecom industry exist only on paper, with no operational application in the field. In CTI²’s case, its partnerships have very strong expression in the field.”

Nevertheless, the telecom market is in a very difficult situation now.

“It’s true that the telecom market is stagnating now, but that shouldn’t affect companies of CTI²’s size. To the contrary. It should be remembered that this is a relatively small company, so even a few small deals are enough to jump-start its growth. Furthermore, the current situation can actually provide opportunities for a small company to establish its market position as a significant player in the added value services sector for when the market recovers.

“At the moment, time is on CTI²’s side. As existing systems become obsolete, major operators will be more likely to publish tenders for new systems. When that happens, they will look for the newest systems on the market. This is where CTI²’s great opportunity lies to establish itself as a significant player in the field. Even if it doesn’t become the leading player within a year or two, it will definitely be cable to participate in every important tender.

“Ultimately, the recession gives CTI² the time to organize to expand its market share. It can meanwhile prove it has functioning systems capable of serving a great many users. This kind of organizing and groundwork was much harder during the boom years, when it was necessary to run after the demand.”

In your opinion, how much of Comverse’s market will CTI² be able to grab in the next 1-2 years?

“If I didn’t believe that CTI² could win a substantial share of the telecom market, I wouldn’t have joined the company. By the way, the objective is not necessarily to grab only Comverse’s market share. You have to understand that there hasn’t been any declaration of war against Comverse. CTI² is a company that wants to establish its position in the added value services market, and therefore plans to compete against all the companies active in the sector.”

You are a personal friend of Comverse CEO Zeev Bregman. Doesn’t your appointment as chairman of a competitor create a problem?

“I have scores of friends at Comverse besides Bregman, some of whom are very close. I don’t see any problem. I am quite capable of separating my private and professional lives.”