Paging Network Inc. announced it acquired Calabasas, Calif.-based Silverlake Communications Inc.,
and it has integrated the company into its Advanced Wireless Integration Group. Financial terms of the transaction
were not disclosed.
Silverlake is a wireless software development and consulting firm emphasizing wireless
messaging software and wireless communication solutions for enterprise markets. The company’s AirSource suite of
wireless messaging software long has been a favorite of the messaging industry. Silverlake’s enterprise solutions were
instrumental in the customized solutions AWIG has created to date.
According to Scott Grimes, PageNet senior vice
president and head of the AWIG unit, the Silverlake acquisition brings an added aspect to the AWIG group. AWIG was
created as part of PageNet’s growth strategy, initiated following the reorganization last year. Its function is to bring
integrated wireless solutions to enterprise systems in several areas.
The first area is to create a highly customized
solution for a specific group or business, such as that designed for the Chicago Board of Trade late last year. The group
also hopes to create alliances with leaders in different sectors of the software space-such as the Computer Associates
deal-to bring added value to said software by adding a wireless component.
With the Silverlake acquisition,
PageNet has added what it calls a shrink-wrap area, in which wireless applications are created that can be implemented
by many companies simply by buying the software and loading it onto the computer.
This essentially is what
Silverlake has been doing all along. The company will continue doing so, except with much greater research-and-
development resources provided by PageNet.
“Everything PageNet is trying to accomplish, Silverlake already
has done on a smaller scale,” said Alan Gould, Silverlake executive vice president and director of business
development. “We’ve been doing integration products for years now. We saw this whole computer industry was
going to merge with wireless. We’ve just been waiting it out … This (acquisition) will really open it up and make
wireless be what it should have been years ago.”
Silverlake will retain its name, offices and brand. PageNet
said it wanted to keep Silverlake as independent as possible because the solutions developed by Silverlake, as well as
AWIG, will not be proprietary to PageNet. Rather, the company said it is stressing a code of being “carrier and
device independent.”
AWIG functions independently from PageNet in that it has its own sales force, software
and hardware development, customer service and logistics team. When AWIG goes to a business to develop a wireless
solution, it will recommend the best possible components for that solution, even if it means using another paging
carrier’s airtime, PageNet said.
AWIG generates revenue not from airtime, but from the value of the overall solution
it creates, which Grimes said is much more than mere airtime revenue. Additionally, PageNet executives feel the
industry must focus on the integration of paging and computing for continued growth.
“There is a time to
compete and a time to work for the space overall,” said Scott Baradell, PageNet director of corporate
communications. “We want people to know this is a deal that, if done right, will be good for everybody, not just
PageNet.”
Because Silverlake’s AirSource is a popular software product among paging carriers-with 400,000
user nationwide-this openness comes as a relief to many. Silverlake customers include Arch Communications Group
Inc., PageMart Wireless Inc., Bell Atlantic Corp. and Network Services L.L.C.
PageMart Vice President of
Marketing Donna Regenbaum said she expects little impact from the change in ownership.
“Every indication
from Silverlake is that’s the reality,” she said of the above voiced commitment.”I don’t expect much
impact.
“If it’s good software and it fills a need and it’s available, we’ll buy it,” she continued. “At
the end of the day, Silverlake builds very, very good software.”
