 Under his lead , Alexander was credited with turning around Comverse 's fortunes . In 1989 , the Ascom Group made a $ 6 million direct investment in the company . In 1990 , Comverse won a potentially $ 10 million contract , its largest yet , to deliver computers running voicemail and fax applications on West German cellular networks , beating out far larger corporations in the process . Deutsche Telekom became one of the company 's biggest early customers . By 1991 , the company had annual sales of $ 17 million and was selling a combined voice and fax mailbox system . Many of its early successes came from avoiding the huge telecommunications companies in the U.S. and instead focusing on selling to small- and medium @-@ sized companies in the wireless market in Europe . The company also sought a variety of other markets , including developing countries such as Mexico and China for its Trilogue virtual telephone service . Gradually its product emphasis shifted more from hardware to software . 
