Globalstar picks up GPS asset-tracking supplier

Globalstar Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Spot L.L.C., have acquired substantially all of the assets of Axonn L.L.C., which makes satellite GPS asset-tracking and messaging products including Globalstar’s Spot Satellite GPS Messenger for consumers, and the AXTracker and Smartone asset-tracking solutions, geared to enterprises.
Globalstar and Spot paid $1.5 million cash, as well as $5.5 million in stock and up to another $11 million in earnout payments based on sales for Axxon.
The deal gives Globalstar attractive intellectual property that can be used in both the enterprise and consumer markets, both of which are important to the MSS carrier, said Dean Hirasawa, director, of public and investor relations at the company. Machine-to-machine communications are an important component of the asset-tracking space and this IP will be offered to developers and value-added resellers on an open-source basis so they can further develop products in the space, Hirasawa said in an interview with RCR Wireless News.
“This agreement is significant for it will effectively secure the critical long-term supply chain and associated intellectual property rights and technical design for the Spot Satellite GPS Messenger retail consumer product as well as a number of Simplex data machine-to-machine (M2M) enterprise solutions,” said Globalstar CEO Peter Dalton in a news release. “With the economics of this acquisition, we expect to increase our equipment margin for the Spot Satellite GPS Messenger by approximately 100 percent. We also expect that contracting directly with Simplex device manufacturers and working with Axonn’s talented team of R&D, design and contract manufacturing personnel will enable Globalstar to deliver future innovative products, already planned for introduction, in a much more cost effective and timely manner.
“Axonn’s broad-ranging intellectual property and engineering expertise coupled with Globalstar’s network capability provides us with the ability to offer developers, on an open-source basis, the technologies needed to integrate Spot’s proven messaging technology and global tracking into their M2M products. This agreement also provides Globalstar with the ability to directly deliver customized and affordable Simplex data hardware solutions to customers,” Dalton continued.
Globalstar said it is the world’s largest provider of mobile satellite voice and data services with 375,000 customers.