Intrado, formerly West Corporation, is an American telecommunications company. It was purchased by private equity firm Apollo Global Management on October 11, 2017.[1][4]

Intrado
FormerlyWest Corporation
Company typePrivate[1]
Industry
  • Unified Communications
  • Interactive Services
  • Specialized Agent Services
  • Telecom Services
  • Safety Services
Founder
HeadquartersOmaha, Nebraska, US
Key people
  • John Shlonsky (CEO)
  • Matt Carter (president, Life & Safety Division)
RevenueIncrease $2.6 billion USD (2012)[2]
OwnerApollo Global Management
Number of employees
9,659 (2018)[3]
Websiteintrado.com

Business Operations

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Intrado is reorganized in five main segments: Cloud Collaboration,[5] Life and Safety (including 911 operations), Enterprise Communications, Digital Media (including streaming operations), and Health and Wellness (including healthcare claims and customer support) in 2019.[6] It spun out its telemarketing brand to West Revenue Generation Services (WRGS), also owned by Apollo Global Management in 2019[7]

History

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Gary and Mary West co-founded WATS Marketing of America in 1978.[8] The couple left the company in 1985 and Mary West founded West Teleservices with Troy Eaden in 1986.[8] Gary West joined West Teleservices one year later as chairman.[8]

During the first decade, West Teleservices hired thousands of employees and reached over $100 million in net proceeds.[8] West Teleservices expanded their products through a series of acquisitions, including Tel Mark Sales Inc., Intercall, Televox, and HyperCube.[8]

In November 1996, West went public with 2,000 employees.[8]

In 2002, West acquired Tel Mark Sales, Dakotah Direct, and Attention, LLC.[8] The following year, West acquired conferencing company InterCall and ConferenceCall.com.[8][9]

In 2006, West which had been publicly traded since 1996, recapitalized under the sponsorship of investor groups led by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Quadrangle Group.[8] Gary and Mary West continued to maintain 25 percent of the company.[8]

In January 2015, West announced the sale of its agent services businesses to Alorica. The sale closed in early March 2015.[10]

In October 2017, West was purchased by Apollo Global Management, a New York-based private equity firm, for $5.2 billion.[1]

On August 31, 2018 West Corporation laid off 148 employees between their Middleton, WI and Green Bay, WI location after losing a major contract.[11]

On June 25, 2019 West Corporation rebranded itself to Intrado.[12]

On September 11, 2020 Intrado acquired Syn-Apps LLC, developer of mass notification software.[clarification needed] [13]

On December 20, 2020 Intrado acquired Asparia, a leading provider of patient engagement solutions[clarification needed] for health systems, hospitals, and medical practices.[14]

On January 31, 2023 Stonepeak acquired Intrado Life & Safety for $2.4 billion. The Intrado name and brand will transition with the safety business. Intrado Corporation rebranded its remaining holdings to West Technology Group, LLC.[15]

On October 2, 2023 Matt Carter was appointed CEO of Intrado Life & Safety replacing Jeff Robertson.[16]

Name history

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  • November 1996: West TeleServices Corporation
  • January 1, 2001: West Corporation[17]
  • June 25, 2019: Intrado[18]

Controversies

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Intrado has had a history of being the responsible party for several technical issues causing 911 outages across many states in the United States.

In April 2014, Intrado was partially responsible for a 14-state 911 outage that affected an estimated 11 million people and 6,000 emergency help calls.[19][20][21] As a result, the FCC fined Intrado $1.4 million.[22]

In November 2019, Intrado agreed to pay $175,000 to the US Treasury due to glitches in their system that occurred in August 2018 that left millions without access to 911 access for 65 minutes across 6 states.[23][24][25]

In September 2020, 911 outages were reported across 14 states for more than an hour due in part to Intrado.[26][27]

Acquisitions

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Between 2002 and 2013, West Corporation invested approximately $2.7 billion in strategic acquisitions.[8]

West has acquired:

  • Tel Mark Sales —2002[8]
  • Dakotah Direct —2002[8]
  • Attention LLC —2002[8]
  • InterCall —2003[8]
  • ConferenceCall.com — October 2003[9]
  • Worldwide Asset Management — September 2004[28]
  • ECI Conference Call Services — November 2004[4]
  • Sprint Conferencing — May 2005[29]
  • Intrado — April 2006[30]
  • Raindance Communications — April 2006[31]
  • CenterPost Communications — February 2007[32]
  • TeleVox Software — March 2007[33]
  • Omnium Worldwide — April 2007[34]
  • HBF Communications — April 2008[35]
  • Genesys Conferencing — May 2008[36]
  • Stream 57 - January 2010[37]
  • SKT Business Communications Solutions - March 2010[38]
  • Holly Connects — May 2010[39]
  • TuVox - July 2010[40]
  • Specialty Pharmacy Network – February 2011[41]
  • Twenty First Century Communications - February 2011
  • PostCTI - February 2011
  • Unisfair - March 2011
  • Smoothstone IP Communications - April 2011
  • HyperCube – November 2011[42]
  • SchoolMessenger - April 2014[43]
  • ClientTell, Inc. - November 2015[44]
  • Magnetic North. - November 2015[45]
  • Callpointe.com Inc - May 2017[46]
  • ECaTS - November 2017[47]
  • PhoneTree - December 2017
  • GlobeNewswire - April 2018
  • Flowroute - June 2018[48]
  • Asparia - December 2020[49]

Awards

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  • April 2013 National College and West Corporation & Business Solutions Distinguished Community Employer[50]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "West Corp. CEO retires; Omaha company was sold to New York firm last month".
  2. ^ "WSTC Key Statistics". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  3. ^ "WSTC Profile". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  4. ^ a b "COMPANY NEWS; WEST TO BUY ECI CONFERENCE CALL SERVICES". The New York Times. 2004-11-18. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Intrado |".
  6. ^ "West Corp Rebrands As Intrado, Reorganizes Operations". CRN. 25 June 2019..
  7. ^ "West Corporation Divests Remaining Legacy Call Center Operations". GlobeNewswire News Room. 2 January 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "West Corp.'s public offering puts a face on behind-the-scenes operations". Omaha.com. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  9. ^ a b "West Buys ConferenceCall.com for $38.5 Million". Direct Marketing News. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  10. ^ "Alorica Completes Acquisition of West Corporation's Agent Services Businesses, Including ARM". 2015-03-05. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  11. ^ Bollier, Jeff. "West Corp. to lay off 148 after losing contract, including 36 at Ashwaubenon office". Green Bay Press-Gazette.
  12. ^ "West Corporation announces rebrand to Intrado". 25 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Intrado Acquires Syn-Apps to Accelerate IoT in Protecting the Public and Improving Emergency Response". 11 September 2022.
  14. ^ "Intrado acquires Asparia". 22 December 2020.
  15. ^ "Stonepeak completes acquisition of Intrado's safety business". www.pehub.com.
  16. ^ "Matt Carter replaces Jeff Robertson as CEO". www.intrado.com.
  17. ^ "WEST CORP. /Omaha, Nebraska Firm With Low Profile Enjoying High Growth". news.investors.com. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  18. ^ "West Corporation Announces Rebrand to Intrado". finance.yahoo.com.
  19. ^ "Busy Signal: Behind CenturyLink's 911 Service Outage of 2014". 11 February 2020.
  20. ^ "A preventable coding error knocked out 911 service for millions". 20 October 2014.
  21. ^ "April 2014 Multistate 911 Outage: Cause and Impact" (PDF). October 2014. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  22. ^ "FCC Fines CenturyLink and Intrado $17.4 Million For Multi-State 911 Outage" (PDF). 2015-04-06. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  23. ^ Harvey, News Analysis Phil; Reading 11/5/2019, Light. "CenturyLink, West Safety Agree to Pay Up for 911 Outage". Light Reading.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ FCC News. "FCC Announces Settlemnts with CenturyLink & West Safety Communications Regarding 911 Outage in August 2018" (PDF). FCC. FCC.
  25. ^ "CenturyLink, West Safety Comms agree to $575,000 fine over 911 outage". RCR Wireless News. 5 November 2019.
  26. ^ Krebs, Brian. "Who's Behind Monday's 14-State 911 Outage? — Krebs on Security". Krebs on Security.
  27. ^ Hollister, Sean (29 September 2020). "911 outages have become a fact of life — are we even fixing this?". The Verge.
  28. ^ "West Corp. to Buy Worldwide Asset". Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  29. ^ "COMPANY NEWS; WEST WILL PAY $207 MILLION FOR SPRINT'S CONFERENCING UNIT". The New York Times. 2005-05-10. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  30. ^ "West completes Intrado acquisition". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  31. ^ "West Corporation Completes Raindance Acquisition and Updates 2006 Guidance". TMCnet.com. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  32. ^ "West Corporation to Acquire TeleVox Software and CenterPost Communications". TMCnet.com. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  33. ^ "West Completes Acquisition of TeleVox". TMCnet.com. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  34. ^ "In Brief: Neb. Outsourcer West Sets Buyout. (West Corp.)(Omnium Worldwide Inc.)". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  35. ^ "Company Overview of HBF Group, Inc". Businessweek. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  36. ^ "West Buys Genesys Conferencing". TMCnet.com. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  37. ^ "InterCall Asserts Vision for Virtual Events with Acquisition of Stream57". Intercall. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  38. ^ "West Corp. To Acquire SKT Business Communication". PE Hub. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  39. ^ "West Corp. Buys Holly Connects". Mergers & Acquisitions. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  40. ^ "West Interactive Acquires TuVox". insideARM. 26 July 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  41. ^ "West Corporation to Acquire Smoothstone IP Communications".
  42. ^ "West Corp. acquires HyperCube". Longmont Times-Call. 29 November 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  43. ^ "SchoolMessenger Acquired by West Corporation". edSurge. 2014-04-14. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  44. ^ "West Corporation Acquires ClientTell".
  45. ^ "West Corporation Acquires Magnetic North". 5 November 2015.
  46. ^ "Callpointe is now part of West". Callpointe. 2017-08-02. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  47. ^ "West Corporation Acquires ECaTS". CNBC. 2017-11-08. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  48. ^ "West Corporation to Acquire Flowroute". GlobalNewsWire. 2018-06-29. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  49. ^ "Intrado Acquires Asparia". 22 December 2020.
  50. ^ "West Corporation Awarded for Support of National College ISE Program". National College. Retrieved 11 July 2013.