NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Cisco CEO John Chambers likes to talk about his company as the Internet's "plumber" - the company that provides the gear and services on which the world's data services run.By that definition, tech company NeuStar (NSR) is a plumber of the telecom world: Practically the entire North American telecom system relies on its clearinghouse services in order to complete voice telephone calls.
"The industry has made us essential," NeuStar CEO Jeff Ganek said in a recent interview. "You can't make a phone call without touching our database." NeuStar (the "neu," Ganek says, is short for "neutral") basically operates a big directory of phone numbers that helps direct a call to the correct telephone company central office where the recipient works or resides.
The company, based in Sterling, Va., provides other critical services to the phone industry. It administers area codes, and helps assign phone numbers to competitive carriers. Mundane stuff, but someone has to be the plumber, right?
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