GPS World

Tag: acquisition

  • ST-Ericsson Sells GPS Business to Intel

    ST-Ericsson, a joint venture of STMicroelectronics and Ericsson, has sold its mobile connectivity GNSS business to Intel.

    ST-Ericsson, which focuses on mobile and wireless chips, announced the sale on Tuesday without naming the buyer. An Intel spokesman later said the U.S. chipmaker bought the assets.

    According to ST-Ericsson, the sale “represents another step in the execution of Ericsson’s and ST’s announcement of March 18, 2013,” when the company announced it was winding down the joint venture. Ericsson will assume 1,800 employees and contractors, with the largest concentrations in Sweden, Germany, India and China. ST will assume 950 employees, primarily in France and in Italy.

    In addition to the assets and intellectual property rights associated with this business, 130 employees in Daventry, UK, Bangalore, India, and Singapore are anticipated to join Intel at closing of the transaction, and will be added to Intel’s already-existing GPS assets.

    The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and standard conditions and is expected to be completed in August. ST-Ericsson estimates the proceeds from the sale, combined with the avoidance of employee restructuring charges and other related restructuring costs, will reduce the joint venture’s cash needs by approximately $90 million.

    “Today’s transaction validates the leading innovation developed by ST-Ericsson in mobile navigation systems and marks a further important step towards the execution of our shareholders’ decision to exit from ST-Ericsson” commented Carlo Ferro, President and CEO of ST-Ericsson. “I am pleased that this organization will continue to develop leading-edge technologies and delighted that the team found a new home at a leading player in the semiconductor industry.”

  • Hemisphere GPS Sells Precision Business to Chinese UniStrong

    On January 31, Hemisphere GNSS Inc., a subsidiary of Beijing UniStrong Science & Technology Co. Ltd., purchased the Precision Products business and related GNSS technology and intellectual property from Hemisphere GPS Inc. for $15 million US. In a related press release, Hemisphere GPS Inc. has announced the intention to change its company name to AgJunction.

    As part of the transaction, Hemisphere GNSS acquired all of the high-precision GNSS product lines, all related intellectual property rights and the Hemisphere GPS trademarks and brands. The Precision Products segment generated revenues of approximately $13.3 million in 2012 serving marine, land survey, construction, mapping, and OEM segments.

    Hemisphere GNSS will operate its business headquarters out of Scottsdale, Arizona, and will maintain its operations in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

    Phil Gabriel has been appointed president of Hemisphere GNSS Inc. and will also serve as a board member. Gabriel has more than 15 years of experience with Hemisphere GPS, serving for the past six years as the vice president and general manager of the Precision Products business.  “We are truly excited about our future growth prospects as a fully focused GNSS products and technology provider,” Gabriel said. “I would like to assure all our global distribution partners, suppliers and customers that it remains business as usual as we take our first steps forward with the strong backing of UniStrong.”

    With this acquisition, UniStrong is expanding its capabilities in the high-precision GNSS business and also expects to promote commercial applications of China’s BeiDou Navigation System. UniStrong is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange under ticker 002383.

    Business analysts have reported in China that this is the first acquisition of an internationally renowned enterprise initiated by a domestic enterprise in China’s satellite navigation industry and represents an important milestone in the development of the industry. “The acquisition will create an international route enabling UniStrong to expand its global business outlook, enhance our ability to attract international talent, and lay the foundation for international growth and profitability,” stated Xingping Guo, president and CEO of UniStrong.

    As part of the agreement, Hemisphere GNSS and AgJunction have formed a strategic alliance and a collaborative business relationship covering supply chain management, customer support, technology development and cross-licensing. “Having already established a relationship with UniStrong as one of our resellers made our new alliance a win-win for both parties,” said Rick Heiniger, president and CEO of AgJunction. “I am very pleased to be working together in this close technology-sharing relationship.”

    Hemisphere GNSS’s newly appointed board of directors brings additional GNSS industry experience to the company. The board is chaired by Jonathan W. Ladd, former president and CEO of NovAtel Inc. Also joining the board is Werner Gartner, former executive vice president and CFO of NovAtel Inc.

    “Hemisphere’s talented team will leverage its core GNSS capabilities and product marketing knowledge with UniStrong’s high quality, low cost GNSS product design and development resources,” said Ladd. “Hemisphere’s existing and future customers and partners will most certainly benefit from the resulting rapid, cost-effective product innovation across multiple product lines.”

    Beijing UniStrong is focused on GNSS industry, with R&D, production, engineering, sales and service facilities. Its technical solutions and products cover GPS/GLONASS/COMPASS receivers, multi-system navigation and positioning, high-accuracy surveying, GNSS data post-processing, and system integration.

    The re-branding of Hemisphere GPS as AgJunction is an integral part of the strategic re-focusing of the company’s resources on precision agriculture, and part of the restructuring initiated in September 2012. The company maintains ownership of its key patents and leading agricultural brands including AgJunction, Outback Guidance, and Satloc.

  • Hexagon to Acquire Russia’s NAVGEOCOM

    Hexagon has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding shares in Russia-based Navgeocom. The company is the largest distributor for Leica Geosystems, a Hexagon brand, in the Russian Federation.

    Founded in 1997, Navgeocom has grown into one of the top-tier distributors of surveying and mapping products in Russia. The acquisition marks another step in Hexagon’s global distribution strategy, which aims to establish a strong direct presence in all key markets.

    “Strategically, the acquisition of Navgeocom is a great fit for Hexagon and yet another step toward expanding our presence in Russia and Central Asia. Furthermore, Russia is entering into a phase of significant investment in transport infrastructure,” said Hexagon AB President and CEO Ola Rollén. “In addition to Russian highways, it includes significantly increasing the size of Moscow and surrounding its perimeter with a motorway, an expressway and high-speed rail system between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and an international transport passage programme between Europe and West China. Coupled with the acquisition, these projects provide substantial growth opportunities across Hexagon and improve our ability to serve customers in the Russian Federation.”

    The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close as of end of February 2013 and will contribute to Hexagon’s earnings. Excluding intercompany revenue, the company’s turnover for 2012 amounted to approximately 10 MEUR.

  • Acquisition of Fastrax Expands u-blox’ GNSS Portfolio

    u-blox has acquired privately owned, Finnish-based Fastrax Oy, a company that specializes in a broad range of GNSS positioning and antenna modules. The company brings additional products to u-blox’ portfolio, including software GNSS solutions used for consumer and industrial applications, and advanced GNSS modules that include an integrated antenna.

    “Over its 12 year history, Fastrax has established itself as a successful player in the global positioning markets worldwide,” said Thomas Seiler, u-blox CEO. “Their modules exploit the best features of four leading GNSS chip vendors and include advanced antenna modules. These products are an excellent complement to our existing portfolio, and will benefit from u-blox’ economy of scale in terms of our advanced R&D capabilities, semiconductor technologies, global sales channels, established supply chain, and high-volume manufacturing resources.”

    “Combining our leading GNSS products and technologies will give our customers a more attractive choice, while streamlining our operations and lower costs,” said Fastrax CEO, Taneli Tuurnala. “This merger brings together two recognized, profitable GNSS technology leaders with broad market base; the sum of this acquisition is significantly larger than its parts.”

    The acquisition entails purchase of 100% of the shares of Fastrax Oy at a price of 13.0 million Euros. Certain pay-out rules apply to Fastrax management members, u-blox said in a statement. The company expects revenue of about CHF 2 million and an EBIT of CHF 0.1 million for the remainder of 2012, and revenue of CHF 13 to 15 million with an accretive EBIT margin of 15-20% for 2013.

  • Telenav Launches Scout Advertising, Acquires ThinkNear

    By Janice Partyka.

    TeleNav has announced that it has acquired Local Merchant Services, Inc., d.b.a. ThinkNear, a privately held hyper-local mobile advertising company in Los Angeles, California, for consideration of $22.5 million, consisting of approximately $18.5 million in cash, plus restricted stock and assumed options. The acquisition, which closed on October 10, added ThinkNear’s team of 12 employees, including its two co-founders, to Telenav’s mobile local advertising group. Telenav will combine ThinkNear’s targeting technology with the existing Telenav Drive-To Advertising solution to create a new mobile local advertising platform called Scout Advertising.

    ThinkNear states that it helps advertisers reach consumers within 100 meters of any location. ThinkNear’s targeting technology enables situational targeting, which reportedly takes into account where consumers are, what they are doing, and what is happening around them.

    “Real-time location is a nuanced and difficult problem and we have spent almost two years working on the technology to do it right,” said Eli Portnoy, CEO and co-founder of ThinkNear who will be joining the Scout Advertising team. “We have built technology to target mobile consumers based on true location and real-time context across billions of monthly impressions.”

    “Most mobile ad networks struggle with targeting because they are trying to apply online technologies in the mobile space,” said Dariusz Paczuski, vice president of products, marketing, and monetization at Telenav. “This is frustrating for brick and mortar advertisers because, although the growth in mobile Internet use is astounding, the ROI for mobile has been difficult to measure. We now solve that problem by driving more customers at scale with hyper-local targeting and measurable results.”

    “We are extremely excited to combine ThinkNear’s technology and expertise with our own to provide an even more comprehensive solution for advertisers to reach and drive more customers,” stated Paczuski. “This is a platform built from the ground up to leverage the mobile experience. We will help advertisers reach the right people while deploying the right mobile measurement tools. We expect this to change the game for advertisers. We are 100 percent focused on providing them with a clear and remarkable ROI on their mobile advertising spend. The proof will be the increase in customers driving to their front door.”

  • Breaking Down Samsung’s Purchase of CSR

    By Kevin Dennehy

    There have not been many earth-shaking acquisitions of companies that have location as a big part of their offerings. However, the recent $310 million acquisition of CSR’s handset connectivity and location business by Samsung merits an additional look. CSR, along with Broadcom and Qualcomm, are looking at the indoor location market as a strong one in the next four years. In other news, the Mobile Resource Management market is seeing 20 percent growth—not a market with consumer excitability, but one that makes money.

    The recent $310 million acquisition of CSR’s handset connectivity and location business by Samsung has put a number of competitors on notice. One analyst, Liam Quirke, IMS Research, says that because of GPS’ increasing presence on smartphones, and Samsung now being the largest handset manufacturer, it made sense for Samsung to want to own this part of the supply chain.

    “This complements its already large manufacturing operations that supply a number of smartphone components, including its own Exynos branded application processor — in addition to manufacturing the Apple-designed Ax range of SoCs,” he said.

    The Samsung-CSR transaction refers only to the mobile business (i.e., handsets and tablets). “Samsung’s GPS strategy here is inevitably focused around such devices. The trend within connectivity, particularly in devices with small form factors such as handsets and tablets, has been one of increasing integration,” Quirke said. “Connectivity has been packaged into a single chip with some IC suppliers also including GPS. An example would be Texas Instrument’s WiLink 8 solution. An alternative is to include GPS on the cellular baseband, a route which Qualcomm decided to take and has since begun to integrate into its application processors — and more recently also including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.”

    A number of restrictions placed upon CSR by Samsung, as part of the transaction, prevent CSR from selling a GPS product combined with an application processor into the mobile field for 10 years, hinting that this is a direction Samsung may take in terms of integration and subsequently removing additional potential competition, Quirke said.

    In addition to the $310 million deal, Samsung will invest $34.4 million in return for 4.9 percent stake in the remaining CSR business. The completion of this acquisition is expected to be in the fourth quarter. Quirke said that as well as picking up the benefit of CSR’s patent portfolio, the acquisition also adds the research and development and marketing support for its Bluetooth and GPS technology for handsets.

    The deal follows Samsung’s acquisition in June of Nanoradio, a developer of ultra-low power Wireless LAN for chipsets for devices such as smartphones and tablets, Quirke said. It also  provides Samsung with the connectivity technologies with which to make an entrance into the wireless connectivity market.

    During former founder Kanwar Chadha’s tenure at SiRF, which merged with CSR in 2009, the company acquired the GPS businesses of Motorola and Conexant as well some smaller companies such as Centrality, Enuvis, Impulsesoft, Kisel, and TrueSpan.

    Indoor Location Market Will Be Important to CSR

    CSR, along with competitor Broadcom, has become increasingly involved in the indoor location market, with the announcement of its SiRFusion location platform in November. However, Quirke said that the finer details of the transaction between Samsung and CSR indicate that Samsung has only purchased the technology license for GPS, not indoor location. “If correct, this means CSR is free to sell its indoor location technology to other handset OEMs, and in the reverse means that Samsung is not able to do this,” he said.

    With that in mind, indoor location is one of the five key growth areas that CSR is targeting, Quirke said.  “Indoor location, and the various applications associated with it, is centred around mobile devices and, as such, is why I feel CSR was eager to hold on to this portion of their mobile business. Indoor location remains a nascent market with much potential, particularly when considering the opportunity to provide highly targeted marketing material in commercial venues such as shopping malls — not to mention the opportunity in the enterprise space,” he said.

    IMS predicts in its “Indoor Positioning, Mapping, Technology and Services 2012” study that 110,000 supermarkets, shopping malls, or large retail stores will have indoor maps by 2016, making extensive use of indoor location technology.

    CSR has struggled in the mobile space in recent years, while Broadcom and Qualcomm have continued to succeed on the back of their strengths in connectivity combining ICs and cellular baseband chips, respectively, Quirke said.  “Current indoor location solutions offered by the major IC suppliers reside on the GPS chip itself, making use of a number of wireless technologies and MEMS sensors. In light of this, CSR will need to provide a compelling reason for a handset manufacturer to choose its indoor location solution over one from Broadcom or Qualcomm,” he said.  “On a more positive note, early indications suggest that CSR’s solution may be slightly ahead, in terms of providing an accurate working solution — of those from Broadcom and Qualcomm.”

    Enterprise Market Strong…

    In other industry news, the leading suppliers of GPS fleet management solutions for the local fleet and enterprise markets are continuing to grow at a strong rate, nearly 20 per year, said Clem Driscoll, president of CJ Driscoll Associates.

    “FleetMatics, the largest supplier to small fleets, filed an S1 in May and the IPO is expected in the near future. Telogis continues its wave of acquisitions, most recently NavTrak, said Driscoll, who has completed his “2012-2013 Mobile Resource Management Systems Market Study” that profiles 100 MRM suppliers in several markets.

    A strong trend in MRM for both local fleets and the trucking sector is monitoring driver behavior, Driscoll said. “Many suppliers monitor speeding, acceleration, deceleration, speed on turns, etc., and generate driver scorecards to identify the best and riskiest drivers,” he said. “This monitoring of driver performance, along with engine idling time and route adherence, also helps fleet operators minimize fuel consumption, which is a major concern these days.”

  • Telogis Acquires Fleet Management Company Navtrak

    Telogis, Inc., a platform for location intelligence, has acquired Navtrak, a mobile resource and fleet management company. This latest acquisition, along with the company’s strong organic growth rate, further positions Telogis as a fast-growing enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider of location-based intelligence solutions, the company said.

    “This acquisition broadens our customer portfolio with greater reach into small- and mid-sized markets, and complements our strong organic growth with large enterprises and OEM channels,” said Dave Cozzens, CEO of Telogis. “Our robust, scalable platform allows us to quickly integrate acquisitions, and we continue to pursue opportunities such as this that are advantageous for our business and customers.”

    Telogis provides enterprise SaaS applications to manage mobile workers and assets. The company’s strength is built upon an open platform approach that provides advanced solutions to manage every aspect of the mobile workforce, the company said.

    “Navtrak’s customers will now experience the benefits of a powerful location platform of SaaS applications, including Telogis Fleet, Telogis Route, Telogis Progression, Telogis Mobile, and Telogis Navigation,” said Cozzens. “This acquisition further accelerates our aggressive expansion plans for 2012. There is a large global market to address with our platform of SaaS applications, and we look forward to continuing to drive its innovation and growth.”

    This acquisition represents a continuing growth trend for Telogis, which has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies for five consecutive years and has been named to the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for four consecutive years. The company has been honored as one of the best workplaces in the region, and forged a partnership in 2011 that made Telogis the exclusive SaaS solution for Ford Motor Company’s Crew Chief commercial vehicle telematics system.

  • TerraGo Acquires Geosemble Technologies

    TerraGo Technologies Inc. has acquired the complementary software products and technologies of Manhattan Beach, CA-based Geosemble Technologies Inc. Terms between the privately held companies were not disclosed. Both firms are In-Q-Tel portfolio companies.

    According to the announcement, Geosemble’s flagship product, GeoXray automates the process of discovering, geospatially visualizing, monitoring and sharing relevant unstructured information from any source. The software mines and processes content from news, blogs and social media and analyzes data by place, time and topic. GeoXray decreases the amount of time analysts spend sifting through big data and produces more germane information specific to an area of interest. The solution, which is used by a number of intelligence agencies, frees analysts to spend more time on quality analysis and enables better collaboration with peers, decision makers and field personnel.

    TerraGo reports that the strategic acquisition of Geosemble builds on TerraGo’s growing geospatial intelligence applications and reports expertise. The combined companies’ solutions will now enable users to selectively discover relevant spatial content; compose dynamic, interactive geospatial intelligence applications and reports; and collaborate in online and disconnected environments. The new TerraGo suite of solutions will facilitate enhanced situational awareness and actionable intelligence for better planning, improved decision making and faster response.

    Founded in December of 2004, TerraGo reported that Geosemble is a spin-off from the University of Southern California (USC). Its founders are computer science faculty members and originally developed the company’s core artificial intelligence and geospatial data analysis algorithms at USC. The technology has since been strengthened and refined to apply to a range of government and commercial user needs focused on automatically discovering and integrating information into satellite and aerial imagery and maps. The Geosemble business and technical team will be brought into TerraGo as the Geosemble solutions group, and the office in Manhattan Beach will be expanded to accommodate additional engineering staff as well as support resources to serve TerraGo’s growing West Coast customer base. Both firms are In-Q-Tel portfolio companies. 

    “The strategic acquisition of Geosemble will enable our customers to discover, visualize, monitor and share geospatial intelligence relevant to their operations and areas of interest,” said TerraGo Pres. and CEO Rick Cobb. “We warmly welcome our new colleagues to the TerraGo team, which, as always, remains committed to our tradition of product innovation and dedication to customer success.”

    “This union is a perfect fit for Geosemble since TerraGo brings valuable distribution, implementation and customer support capability to Geosemble’s products, in addition to TerraGo’s own valuable suite of complementary technology. The combined resources of our companies will enable us to further develop advanced geospatial intelligence solutions for our existing defense and intelligence customers as well as others in crisis management, public safety and a wide range of commercial businesses,” said Andre Doumitt, former Geosemble CEO and now TerraGo vice president of business development for Geosemble solutions.

  • Esri Acquires Location Analytics Developer GeoIQ

    Esri announced that GeoIQ, a small geo-location company based in Arlington, Virginia, will be joining their organization. The addition of GeoIQ’s team will strengthen Esri’s capabilities in the areas of user experience design, web development and cloud-based applications.

    "We are excited to join the Esri family, integrating our technology and extending the Esri platform,” says Sean Gorman, founder of GeoIQ.  “Esri’s approach to ‘GIS for Everyone’ is transformational in the industry and is very closely aligned with GeoIQ’s vision, so we are extremely excited about working together.” 

    “We believe this will help us supplement our capabilities in delivering simple geospatial solutions for our customers around the world as well as the rapidly growing web developer and content delivery communities,” said Jack Dangermond, president, Esri.

    According to the announcement, GeoIQ staff will join Esri at a new software development center located in Washington, D.C. and extend the ArcGIS platform with special emphasis on federal government clients in the areas of self-service mapping, analytics, big data, content streaming and social media. This center will also support web developers that are focusing on geo-enabling their web solutions with Esri’s geospatial platform. Existing GeoIQ users will continue to be supported. 

  • Acquisition of Cognovo Gives u-blox Own 4G Chip Technology

    u-blox, a positioning and wireless semiconductors, announces the acquisition of UK-based Cognovo Ltd., a company specializing in software defined modem (SDM) chip development technology. The acquisition extends u-blox’ chip design capabilities to create differentiated products for strategic markets that require 4G communications combined with global positioning.

     

    “This is a very exciting acquisition for u-blox as it positions us as an agile and cost-effective supplier of high-speed wireless modem products based on our own chip IP. This allows us to meet market demand for connected systems that require positioning, connectivity and application-specific functionality on a single integrated circuit,” said Thomas Seiler, u-blox CEO. “This new foundation broadens our serviceable market, and will increase our margins in the automotive, consumer, and industrial sectors. Our first 4G product is planned for 2013.”

     

    Cognovo’s Software Defined Modem (SDM) technology and development tools quickly translate complex radio modem designs into fully characterized low-power semiconductor chips, u-blox said. The combination of technologies from Cognovo and the recently acquired 4M Wireless will result in a new wireless modem platform based on IP owned by u-blox.

     

    Cognovo has already demonstrated its SDM baseband chip running high-speed 4G cellular functionality working with the LTE protocol stack from 4M Wireless at Mobile World Congress. With these acquisitions, u‑blox lays the groundwork for establishing a leading position in 4G wireless modems similar to the strategy that u-blox followed to become a market leader in GPS/GNSS modules, u-blox said. The market for 4G modems used for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications is predicted to grow rapidly, surpassing 20 million units by 2016.

     

    “We are very pleased to deploy our SDM technology within u-blox,” said Gordon Aspin, Cognovo CEO. “With over 300 man-years of R&D invested in our SDM technology, this acquisition brings together the industry’s most advanced software modem development platform with some of the best IC design and GNSS engineers in the world. This will be an unbeatable team.”

     

    Key terms of the transaction include:

    • Acquisition of 100% of the shares of Cognovo Ltd at a price of 16.5 million US.
    • Acquisition of key intellectual property and software.
    • Integration of the Cognovo business and 30 employees into u-blox’ organization.

  • Hexagon Acquires Minority Stake in Blom ASA

    Hexagon AB announced that it will acquire 25 percent of the shares in Blom ASA for a total amount of approximately 9 MEUR.

    According to the announcement, Blom ASA has headquarters in Oslo, Norway, and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The company is a European service provider in the geospatial arena, offering a wide selection of geographic services to the government, enterprise and consumer markets. Services include the acquisition, processing and modeling of maps and images. With subsidiaries in 13 countries, Blom’s geographic information database houses one of the largest collections of maps, aerial images, and geospatial models across Europe. Through its online services, Blom provides access to its expansive database enabling customers to update their own datasets and partners the ability to create applications using Blom’s location-based services and navigation solutions.

    “Our alliances with geospatial information providers around the globe strengthens our vision of providing “dynamic”, more accurate and in the end real-time updates of the world around us”, said Ola Rollén, president and CEO of Hexagon AB. “With this investment, Hexagon secures access to high resolution and up-to-date geospatial information which is becoming increasingly important to our entire customer base, especially within Intergraph, where access to such data provides the foundation for industry-specific software solutions”.

    Hexagon reports that it has no current plans for any further offer with respect to shares in Blom. The transaction will close as of Friday, June 1, 2012.

  • Hexagon Acquires Norwegian Software Company myVR

    Hexagon AB announced it has acquired all shares in the Norwegian company My Virtual Reality Software AS (myVR).

    According to the announcement, myVR provides software that offers a solution for 2D, 3D and 360-degree viewing for desktop and mobile. The company has developed a patented technology platform that enables high-resolution real-time viewing of interactive maps over networks with limited bandwidth. The platform makes it possible to view large-scale models on any 3D hardware-supported client platform, including mobile phones and tablets.

    myVR 3D Map

    "The acquisition of myVR will be of great value for Hexagon's current offerings. Everything is going mobile, including our customer offerings," said Ola Rollén, President and CEO, Hexagon AB. "In the past, the problem with displaying 3D data on a mobile device such as a tablet has been size limitations of data transfers, and also the ability to handle the transfer in a real-time environment. myVR has a unique solution to this problem, and Hexagon will make use of its technology in all of our divisions."

    Founded in 2003, myVR provides real-time, 3D virtual technology to the Oil & Gas, Building & Construction, Government and Web Portals industries, as well as other traditional and emerging digital markets.

    Hexagon announced that myVR will be fully consolidated as of today. The acquisition will not have any visible impact on Hexagon's earnings in the short-term.