The acquisition of Synchrologic is in part the result of settlement discussions that began after Pumatech filed a patent-infringement suit against Synchrologic in January 2003, alleging Synchrologic’s products infringed six of Pumatech’s synchronization-related patents. The acquisition will result in the dismissal of the litigation, but is not expected to affect Pumatech’s continued defence of its intellectual property or its ongoing litigation with Extended Systems Inc.
A licensing agreement signed by both companies will enable Pumatech to immediately begin marketing and selling Synchrologic’s Mobile Suite platform as Pumatech’s server-based synchronization solution for enterprise customers.
Synchrologic’s product line provides mobile access to business applications, email and data, file content, intranet sites, and Web content, while allowing remote management of mobile devices. For the 12-month period ending June 30, it posted revenues of $11.8m – a 38% increase over the prior 12-month period.
Synchrologic is based in Atlanta, Georgia, but also has offices in London and Milan. Its 80 strong workforce is expected to join Pumatech, which will keep the Synchrologic brand name on some products. Over the course of its eight years lifetime, Synchrologic has raised approximately $30m in venture capital and its customers include Accenture, 3M, Citicopr, Domino’s, JD Edwards, Microsoft and T-Mobile.
We believe our 12-month mission to reassert our leadership in the sync market is nearing completion with the acquisition of Synchrologic, says Woodson Hobbs, president and CEO of San Jose, California-based Pumatech. We expect to be able to provide our customers with an important technology platform intended to expand the role of synchronization for mobile users and enterprise applications. We believe Synchrologic has a strong enterprise mobile solution and that Pumatech has the resources to exploit it.
This is Pumatech’s fourth acquisition this year. In early April, it gained a broader portfolio of synchronization patents with the purchase of Motorola subsidiary Starfish Software Inc for an undisclosed sum. Then in early July, it bought most of the assets of Loudfire Inc, a developer of software providing real-time, browser-based access for mobile phones to email and PIM information in Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express. Again, financial details were not released. In early August, Pumatech bought carrier-grade virtual private network software vendor, Spontaneous Technology Inc, also for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition has been approved by both boards of directors at both companies.
Source: ComputerWire
