History

Comsof was founded in 1998 as a spin-off company of the IBCN- (INTEC Broadband Communication Networks) research group of Ghent University.

Based on the high-technological know-how that was available at the research group concerning the planning of optical telecommunication networks, Comsof developed a commercial tool - called WDMNetDesign - for planning such networks. This application was sold to various international vendors of optical equipment as well as to operators planning to deploy such networks. The specific and high-technological know-how that was incorporated in the application gave it a competitive advantage and was a key factor for the international success.

In January 2002, the Comsof division responsible for developing the WDMNetDesign tool was sold to OPNET (resulting in OPNET's WDMGuru).

The proximity of the internationally respected research group in the telecommunication domain ensured a state-of-the-art technological background at Comsof. This also guarantees that Comsof keeps in touch with the most recent developments in the networking area. This knowledge is combined with a high expertise in software development. Based on this broad available expertise, Comsof instantly widened its scope, offering its know-how in other domains to operators, equipment vendors and service providers through consultancy projects.

Obviously, selling the WDMNetDesign application caused a shift inside the company, making consultancy the core business of Comsof. This resulted in some challenging new projects with Siemens, Alcatel, Belgacom and Cisco related to Cost Management (Top-Down and Bottom-Up Cost Modelling), digital tv (including network planning, network management and service related topics), Network Design and Software Engineering.

In our opinion consultancy projects should always provide tailor-made solutions in the shortest time possible. This is shown in the way we have developed customised software tools in the past while working in close collaboration with our customers in the context of various consultancy projects. In the domain of cost management for example, we developed a generic cost modelling platform called INCA that can be used as a basis to rapidly develop a customised cost modelling application fitting the customer's specific needs.

Although most of our activities have been situated in the telecommunication sector, the high expertise build up in the Cost Management area has recently opened up new opportunities in other sectors (energy, utility, transport, etc.).

Comsof recently moved to a new office location; our headquarters are now located in the iCUBES incubation center. Closely affiliated to the IBBT, and co-located with the IBCN research department, we are at the perfect site to accomplish joint projects with these highly innovative groups.