Globalstar, a provider of mobile satellite voice and data services, has announced that they and their wholly owned subsidiary, Spot LLC, have bought Axonn, a developer and manufacturer of high quality and affordable satellite GPS asset-tracking and messaging products including Globalstar’s (News - Alert) SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger.

 

According to a company statement, Globalstar and Spot LLC acquired certain assets and assumed certain liabilities of Axonn in exchange for $1.5 million in cash, subject to a working capital adjustment, $5.5 million in shares of the company's voting common stock and up to an additional $11 million for earn-out payments based on sales of existing and new products.

 

Globalstar officials said that the acquisition will provide them 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 enterprise solutions and allow them to develop further innovative consumer and electronics solutions.

 

Officials with Globalstar have stated that they have estimated that the economics of this acquisition will increase their equipment margin for the SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger by approximately 100 percent. The acquisition also has provided the company access to Simplex device manufacturers and Axonn’s renowned R&D team which will only help them design and develop innovative products, already planned for introduction, in a much more cost effective and timely manner.

 

Axonn’s Simplex Transmitter Unit is claimed to be the world’s smallest OEM satellite modem module, providing reliable global digital data communications for asset tracking and telemetry in a package the size of a business card users might carry in their wallet. The STX2 provides developers of asset tracking, data monitoring and messaging solutions with a small but affordable way to integrate Globalstar satellite data network connectivity into their product solutions and is also an important part of every current M2M Simplex data device that utilizes the Globalstar network.

 

Peter Dalton, CEO of Globalstar, commented that Axonn’s broad-ranging intellectual property and engineering expertise coupled with Globalstar’s network capability provides them 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. The acquisition has also enabled Globalstar to directly deliver customized and affordable Simplex data hardware solutions to customers.

 

In related news, Globalstar expanded coverage into parts of Western Asia and signed agreement with Quake Global.