REDWOOD CITY, California, United States—A wave of consolidation hit the wireless data industry as two major companies announced acquisitions to expand the scope of their products and the extent of their influence.
Wireless data giant Openwave Systems will pay about US$76 million to acquire two companies, efforts that will add location-based services and Java application downloading to the company’s range of carrier infrastructure products.
Openwave will pay US$2.26 per share for wireless location services company SignalSoft, double that of the company’s Tuesday closing price of about US$1 per share. SignalSoft’s stock jumped to about US$2.20 per share in trading today. SignalSoft, which has a variety of carrier customers, sells software applications for both commercial and emergency location-based services.
Separately, Openwave acquired Java download technology from Ellipsus Systems for about US$17.5 million. Openwave said the move will help it enhance its download management software capabilities to include Java application downloads. Java technology has become a major standard in the worldwide wireless industry.
Openwave’s stock was down slightly after the news to about US$6.20 per share.
On the wireless enterprise side, Extended Systems will acquire ViaFone for about US$12 million, a move Extended Systems said will add real-time and offline capabilities to its wireless enterprise access products, as well as tools to manage multiple devices.
Extended Systems’ stock jumped after the news and was trading at about US$3.80 per share today.
