Viavi To Acquire PNT Testing Company Spirent for $1.3 Billion
Viavi says PNT testing pioneer has complimentary technology
Arizona-based Viavi VIAV 0.00%↑ has agreed to acquire testing and measurement Spirent Communications for $1.3 billion in deal that allows the company to gain a market leader in positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) technologies.
United Kingdom-based Spirent provides solutions and services that test such technologies as 5G, software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN), cloud and autonomous vehicles. Spirent’s global reach in its PNT business also aids in customer research and development, verification and integrity testing, including hybrid positioning and sensor fusion, the company said.
“Combining with VIAVI brings together a highly complementary product offering which can be marketed globally,” said Eric Updyke, Spirent CEO, in a statement. “It will enable Spirent to build on the strategic progress we have made to date, with a partner that has the scale and resources to capitalize on the long-term growth opportunities ahead.”
The acquisition comes as Spirent reported revenues that were down 22 percent year-over-year to $474 million. The company also said that orders were down 24 percent—compared to the previous year.
Under the terms of the deal, Spirent shareholders will receive 172.5 pence per share in cash. Shareholders will also receive a special dividend of 2.5 pence per share in lieu of a final dividend for the year that ended Dec. 31, 2023, the company said.
The acquisition, expected to close during the second half of 2024, will be funded by VIAVI’s existing cash, an $800 million 7-year term loan from Wells Fargo Bank and a $400 million investment from private equity group Silver Lake, the company said. Ken Hao, chairman and a managing partner of Silver Lake, will join Viavi's board.
Spirent, a pioneer in PNT testing, last year launched its SimXona satellite constellation simulator, which was certified by Xona Space Systems. Xona is developing PULSAR, a commercial PNT service built on a backbone of low- Earth orbit (LEO) small satellites, the company said.
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Iridium Acquires Satelles for $115 Million
Saying it wants to expand its reach as a global alternative positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) service, Iridium Communications IRDM 0.00%↑ has acquired Satelles for $115 million.
Iridium plans to make Satelles’ Satellite Time and Location (STL) service a part of its product line, which it expects to generate more than $100 million per year by 2030. In addition, the company is assuming all rights to the Satelles patent portfolio.
"This market is growing; it's a perfect application of our network, and this solution solves a problem for critical industries better than anything else," said Matt Desch, Iridium CEO, in a statement. "Acquiring Satelles makes perfect sense for Iridium and is consistent with what our strategy has always been, which is to take advantage of our unique network to do what others can't or do it better than anyone else can.”
Iridium, which already owned 20 percent of Satelles through three previous investments, says it will deploy a more accessible solution for integration with autonomous systems, consumer devices, vehicles and traditional markets like aviation, maritime and land mobile. “It also provides an opportunity for Iridium's existing partner eco-system to add to their portfolio of solutions and harden their GNSS-reliant products and infrastructure,” the company said in a press release.
Iridium, which expects to complete the acquisition in the next few weeks, said that Satelles CEO Michael O'Connor will report to Desch.
For its part, Iridium has been a major player in location technology for decades. This week, the company equipped South Korea’s Army with more than 1,000 Iridium Connected SAT-PRE (Position Reporting Equipment) handheld devices.
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Waze Makes Six Key Updates
Waze this week added several new features that allow users to navigate roundabouts, avoid curves and other hazards and even find parking. The Google-owned GOOG 0.00%↑ company used insights from local Waze drivers, city partners and other community members to make map updates.
One of the unique features is allowing Waze users to navigate around tricky roundabouts. The new feature shows a driver when to enter a roundabout—and what correct exit to take. The feature will be available to Android users this month and iOS users later this year, the company said.
Another feature alerts drivers in advance when an emergency vehicle are stopped along a route. This allows a user to adjust speed or change routes. The update is available now in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and France on both Android and iOS, with more countries being added soon, the company said.
Waze said that while it already gives users alerts on potholes, railroad crossings and bad weather, it now gives drivers early warnings about sharp curves, speed bumps and toll booths.
Finally, with partner Flash, Waze is offering more information about parking garages. This includes if it is covered, wheelchair accessible, has valet options and whether it has EV charging stations. The parking information will roll out in the next few weeks on both Android and iOS for 30,000 parking garages in the U.S. and Canada.
Other new Waze features include:
Allowing drivers to see more information on their regular routes, including live traffic updates and delays.
A new feature that updates speed limits worldwide. Drivers start to see alerts to allow them to decrease speed along a route.
Other Location News
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Top News:
💲 Karma Automotive Acquires Assets and Key Personnel From Connected Vehicle Pioneer Airbiquity. Connected vehicle and telematics pioneer Airbiquity’s assets, including “significant OEM contracts,” and key personnel acquired by Karma, a Southern California manufacturer of luxury automobiles. Seattle-based Airbiquity, founded in 1997, offers a connected vehicle software product portfolio that includes over-the-air (OTA) updates, software development tools, data management and analytics. Financial details were not disclosed.
💰 RapidSOS Closes $150 Million Financing Round led by BlackRock. RapidSOS additional $75 million raise led by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, which closes the company's latest round at $150 million.
RapidSOS connects data from more than 540 million devices in homes, schools, trains, cars, buildings, and personal devices to 16,000 public safety agencies and nearly 1 million first responders, the company said.
🏬 Unabiz Signs Multi-Story IoT Network Deal, Multi-Mode IoT Hardware Deal. Singapore-based Unabiz, owner of the Sigfox technology, but proceeding as a multi-tech IoT solution provider, has been appointed on a ‘multi-million’ dollar deal to install a private LoRaWAN network to support IoT monitoring.”
🛰 Space Force Eyes Smaller, Cheaper GPS Satellites To Augment Constellation. “The military is interested in a ‘rapidly prototyped GPS navigation satellite with an objective to significantly reduce size, weight, power and cost.’”
👌 Actility and Kerlink Bundle Radio and Core Into Single Private LoRaWAN Iot System. “French LoRaWAN stalwarts Actility and Kerlink are integrating their LoRaWAN network hardware and connectivity software into a simplified private LoRaWAN network solution to enable “easy” deployment and scalability of industrial IoT projects, the pair have said.”
👏 C-V2X: Good 2 Be First, Not Only. “Technology test and measurement maven Rohde & Schwarz made a powerful statement at the Mobile World Congress with the only on-the-show-floor demonstration of direct device to device communications using C-V2X technology.”
🙂 C-DOT, Qualcomm Join Forces To Boost Innovation in India. “Qualcomm Technologies will lend its expertise, technology, and intellectual property training to C-DOT, aiding Indian startups, academia, and OEMS in the development and commercialization of indigenous telecom products utilizing Qualcomm QCOM 0.00%↑ wireless solutions and technologies, C-DOT said.”
Maps:
👍 Instagram Is Working On a 'Friend Map' Feature That Would Let You Track Friends' Locations. “The opt-in feature, which is similar to Snapchat’s Snap Map, would allow users to see their friends’ locations in real time. Instagram also has an opportunity to appeal to people who were fans of Zenly, a social map app that Snap acquired and then shut down last year.”
📌 Asendia and what3words Collaborate To Streamline Deliveries for the Middle East. “This collaboration aims to enhance delivery accuracy and efficiency in key markets such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates where precise addressing can be a challenge.”
🌏 Mapbox Announces the General Availability of Search Box API, the All-In-One Location Service. “Since its public preview release last year, Search Box API has doubled its POI data coverage and is now powered by a newly-launched data platform that enables near real-time updates for data corrections.”
📱 MWC: Swayy App Lets You Share Your Future Location With Close Friends, or Groups You Curate. “Swayy is an iPhone app startup that allows you to share not your current location, but your next intended location. That could be either in a couple of hours in the future, or even weeks or months away.”
📲 Google Maps Alternative Gets the Navigation Feature Everybody Needs. “HERE WeGo displays the next road sign with the remaining distance so you can see the information as you approach the location.”
🏢 Google Maps Tests Showing Building Entrances. “Google Maps is testing new entrance indicator icons for selected buildings, making it easier to find your way in and out.” Editor’s note: It’s about time…
🌎 New Geospatial Data Startup Streamlines Satellite Imagery Visualization. “A couple of former Uber engineers, Sina Kashuk and Isaac Brodsky, who helped build the mapping system at Uber, have come up a fast, serverless-based product that takes advantage of some open source tooling they’ve built to get that data from the source and into apps where it can be put to work.”
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Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
🚩 Biden Administration Investigating Chinese-Made 'Smart Cars' for National Security Risks. “The U.S. Commerce Department will investigate the risks associated with connected cars that incorporate technology from China and other “countries of concern” and consider potential regulations, the White House said.”
🚘 California Approves Waymo Robotaxi Services in LA, SF Neighboring Cities. “California regulator has approved a proposal from Alphabet's GOOG 0.00%↑ Waymo to expand its fared, completely driverless robotaxi services to Los Angeles and some cities near San Francisco.”
😕 RIP Apple Car. This Is Why It Died. “Any tech company moving into the auto space needs a manufacturing partner. But Apple’s EV died as it lived: alone.”
🙁 Is Ford Hijacking Your Connected Vehicle's Data? “All automakers try to monetize data, but some are punishing owners for attempting the same by cutting off connected services.”
🚙 Waymo Launches Driverless Rides for Employees in Austin. “The company announced Tuesday that it will begin shuttling employees around 43 square miles of the Texas capital, including the Barton Hills, Riverside, East Austin and Hyde Park neighborhoods, as well as downtown Austin.”
Fleet:
🚍 Inigo, Samsara Launch Data-Driven Product to Revolutionize Fleet Insurance.
🚛 BlackBerry Radar and Max-Atlas Partner to Maximize ROI for Supply Chain Logistics Companies. “The deal between the two Canadian industry leaders will make BlackBerry Radar asset tracking and monitoring technologies available for installation during manufacture of Max-Atlas' range of products.”
Financial:
📊 Earnings Call: U-Blox Sees Revenue Dip but Outperforms Semiconductor Market.
🤨 Luminar Q4: Another Major Disappointment. “Luminar Technologies LAZR 0.00%↑ reported disappointing Q4 revenues, missing Street estimates by over $5 million.”
✔ Earnings Call: Airgain Reports Q4 Results, Anticipates Gradual Recovery.
✔ Spire Global Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results.
Location Industry Briefs
Send your news releases to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
EUSPA Releases 2024 EO and GNSS Market Report
The EU Agency for the Space Program has rolled out its 2024 Earth Observation and GNSS Market Report. The free 224-page market report, which is updated every two years, features a general overview of the EO and GNSS market. It includes applications, market size and revenues.
Contact: EUSPA, www.euspa.europa.eu/european-space/euspace-market/gnss-market/eo-gnss-market-report.
Point One Navigation’s Polaris RTK Tech Working With Civ Robotics
Point One Navigation’s new case study features its Polaris RTK technology that is working with Civ Robotics for construction layout. Civ was able to plug-and-go with Polaris RTK, without having to set up and calibrate expensive base stations, the company said.
Leveraging Polaris Real-Time Kinematics Network (RTK), Civ’s robot rovers can translate construction plans to real-world layout markings that are accurate to within less than a centimeter, the company said.
Contact: Mark Shapiro, for Point One Navigation, (619) 249-7742,
mshapiro@pointonenav.com, www.pointonenav.com.
Digital Matter Selects Ubilite Indoor Location Products
Digital Matter has selected Ublite for its Wi-Fi indoor location products. The Ubilite’s UBI206 Wi-Fi chip removes the tradeoff between high-data rate application experience and power consumption, the company said. The UBI206 is a single die (SOC) that enables a number of IoT products with minimal number of external components, the company said.
Contact: Clint Brown, Ubilite, cbrown@ubilite.com.
DriverPro On Jamf Marketplace
Driver Technologies has launched DriverPro on the Jamf Marketplace. The integration of DriverPro will provide Jamf users with the ability to leverage employees’ managed devices to deploy the Driver app, which will automatically detect when an employee starts to drive and collect location, speed, g-force, weather and telematics events, the company said. This data is then uploaded to the Driver Cloud, providing coverage of the fleet to track vehicles in real time and view aggregated driving behavior analytics, the company said.
Contact: Maddie Hirsch, for Driver Technologies, driver@calibercorporateadvisers.com, drivertechnologies.com.
Teledyne Geospatial to Introduce Optech’s CL-360 Marine Scanner at Oceanology Conference
Teledyne Geospatial will introduce the Optech CL-360 Marine long-range laser scanner at Oceanology International in London on March 12. The scanner features a scan speed of 250 lines per second with 2 mm range resolution, the company said.
The CL-360 Marine is the only lidar system designed for use on an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) that provides survey grade range and accuracy, the company said.
Contact: Jennifer Parham, Teledyne Geospatial, Jennifer.Parham@teledyne.com
Soracom and Suzuki Agree to IoT Mobility Partnership
Soracom and Suzuki Motor Corp. have partner on IoT mobility services that provide infrastructure for business, including automotive manufacturers. Potential focus areas for the partnership’s IoT technologies include electric vehicles, modular base units and new technologies and services.
Contact: Justine Schneider, for Soracom, jschneider@calysto.com, (404) 266-2060, ext. 507, www.soracom.io.
Leica Geosystems Unveils Leica TerrainMapper-3
Leica Geosystems has rolled out the TerrainMapper-3 airborne lidar sensor, featuring new scan pattern configurability. TerrainMapper-3 provides three scan patterns to customize the sensor’s performance to specific applications, the company said.
Circle scan patterns enhance 3D modelling of urban areas or steep terrains, while ellipse scan patterns optimize data capture for more traditional mapping applications, the company said. The sensor’s higher scan rate allows customers to fly the aircraft faster while maintaining data quality, the company said
Contact: Cristina Mauri, Leica Geosystems AG, cristina.mauri@hexagon.com, www.hexagon.com.
Coast Guard Announces Antennas Phase Center Offsets, WGS 84 Update
The U.S. Space Force has publicized the Antenna Phase Center Offsets of the L1, L2
and L5 signals for the Earth Coverage (EC) antenna deck, as well as the Timing Group Delay (TGD) and inter-signal correction (ISC) values as measured at the factory for GPS-III SVN-79. The data can be found on the GPS Technical References page of the U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center: GPS Technical References | Navigation Center (uscg.gov). In other CGSIC news, the Space Force's 2d Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency's Global Navigation Satellite System Division (SFNG) worked collaboratively to deliver an updated WGS 84 reference frame to worldwide users of GPS.
Contact: Rick Hamilton, U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center, (703) 313-5930.
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Spire Launches Four Satellites on SpaceX
Spire Global SPIR 0.00%↑ launched four satellites on the SpaceX Transporter-10 mission. Spire built and launched two satellites for IoT company Myriota. These satellites will also join Spire’s constellation, contributing to the collection of data for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), the company said.
Contact: Sarah Freeman, Spire, sarah.freeman@spire.com, spire.com.
Abracon Releases GNSS RF Antennas
Abracon has launched a new line of GNSS antennas, which feature fast signal acquisition for location-based services, the company said. The new GNSS antennas support L1/L2/L5 + L band data correction services.
Some use cases include aerospace and defense, location tracking for customers valuable assets, and mapping accuracy for geolocation, precision agriculture, and industrial IoT, the company said.
Contact: Abracon, (512) 371-6159, www.abracon.com.
Sanborn Enhances Image Analyst
The Sanborn Map Co. has launched an enhanced version of its Image Analyst, a web-based imagery data review application accessible through the company’s GeoServe platform. This upgraded application transforms and streamlines the geospatial data review process, the company said.
Key features of the updated Image Analyst include efficient real-time collaboration, allowing multiple users to review data simultaneously, view each other’s comments in real time, and expedite the review process, the company said. Enhanced metadata facilitates issue spotting and resolution, with information on QAQC calls enabling the tracking of active participants and quick identification of patterns and common issues, the company said.
Contact: Tom Harrington, The Sanborn Map Co., tharrington@sanborn.com
GeoComm Indoor Maps Integrated With RapidSOS Premium
GeoComm and RapidSOS have announced the integration of GeoComm Indoor Maps into RapidSOS premium. RapidSOS Premium provides public safety agencies with one unified mapping solution to deliver NG9-1-1 data and solutions, the company said. The integration of indoor maps, using Esri technology, allows emergency call takers and first responders with location information, the company said.
In other company news, GeoComm and ELi Technology, provider of the Emergency Mobile Location (EML), have partnered on a new location service, known as ATLS, driven to enhance school safety, the company said.
Contact: GeoComm, www.geocomm.com.
Nordic Rolls Out LTE-M/NB-IoT SiP Module
Nordic Semiconductor has launched the nRF9151 SiP module, which adds to the nRF91 cellular IoT lineup. The new module includes a 64MHz Arm Cortex-M33 SoC, LTE-M/NB-IoT connectivity with a radio-frequency front-end (RFE) for cellular support, and DECT NR+ connectivity, the company said.
The Nordic nRF9161 SiP module also designed to power cellular IoT and non-cellular 5G solutions that was introduced just last month, the company said. The module features a built-in GNSS receiver and cellular-based location features.
Contact: Nordic Semiconductor, www.nordicsemi.com.
People
TomTom [TOM2] has announced that Maaike Schipperheijn has been nominated for appointment to its board for four years, effective in April 2024.
Ericsson ERIC 0.00%↑ has announced that Rebecca Rohr, currently head of corporate and government investigations, will become chief compliance officer
Combain Mobile AB has named Fredrik Beckman as vice president of marketing.
Linxup has appointed Steven Diogo as vice president of marketing.
Grainne Woods has been named senior marketing communications program manager at Trimble.
Mohamed Tamazin has been named GNSS engineering manager within the R&D GNSS Simulation Engineering team at Safran - Navigation & Timing.
Jobs
Partner Account Manager II. HERE Technologies.
Internal Communications Expert. TomTom.
Automotive Customer Program Manager. Swift Navigation.
Research Engineer (GNSS). Rx Networks.
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