Andrew Corporation has expanded its market leading Geometrix(R) mobile location system product line with the acquisition of certain assets of Nortel's wireless location business, augmenting a worldwide offering that supports innovative location-based services for commercial, consumer, and public safety uses.
Andrew intends to integrate Nortel's mobile location products, services, and associated research and development resources into its Geometrix business, part of Andrew's Network Solutions Group. The transaction includes the hiring by Andrew of approximately 40 employees located at Nortel's R&D center in Wollongong, Australia. The products of Nortel's wireless location business that Andrew has acquired include serving mobile location center (SMLC), stand-alone SMLC, and gateway mobile location center (GMLC) systems, which process and calculate the position of mobile devices.
Andrew will manufacture and market the mobile location center products worldwide to Nortel customers who use GSM (global system for mobile communications) and UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) wireless network technology. Andrew also will provide warranty and maintenance support for Nortel's installed base of SMLC and GMLC products. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"Andrew's Geometrix provides an extensive selection of mobile-locating technologies in one system, giving wireless operators unprecedented flexibility to offer services that meet the needs of their businesses and subscribers," said Terry Garner, group president, Andrew Network Solutions. "With the addition of Nortel's employees and products, Geometrix is ideal for operators everywhere in the world who need a versatile, cost-effective way to introduce and support location-based services for a variety of applications."
The Geometrix system enables networks to locate mobile devices. It applies the most effective combination of technologies to support the full range of location-enhanced services available from operators today and in the future. Operators and third-parties can use Geometrix's locating capabilities to offer their customers location-sensitive services such as:
-- Location-based services (LBS) that help businesses and consumers track people and items such as valuable packages, stranded motorists, children or pets, stolen vehicles, and delayed shipments;
-- Enterprise-oriented services to enhance vehicle and service dispatch, track fleet movement, and track valuable assets; and
-- Public safety services that help locate callers to emergency service centers.
LBS are a new and growing set of innovative value-added applications that are enabled or enhanced with location information. Geometrix offers a wide range of mobile location technologies to precisely meet LBS performance, deployment, and cost requirements.
The Geometrix architecture is expandable to serve very large geographic areas and populations, scalable to support very high volume location-enhanced applications, and upgradeable to accommodate additional future location technologies. Geometrix can support network-based, handset-based, and hybrid mobile location technologies. Andrew's state-of-the-art Serving Mobile Location Centers form the heart of its location systems for GSM networks.
Andrew is the world's most experienced supplier of high-accuracy mobile location systems and its Geometrix location systems have been installed by more operators than any competing system. Since the first Geometrix systems entered service in 2001, cellular network operators covering hundreds of millions of people have installed Andrew Geometrix systems to provide accurate location of mobile users who call police, fire, and medical emergency services from wireless devices.
About Andrew Corporation
Andrew Corporation (NASDAQ: ANDW) designs, manufactures, and delivers innovative and essential equipment and solutions for the global communications infrastructure market. The company serves operators and original equipment manufacturers from facilities in 35 countries. Andrew (http://www.andrew.com/), headquartered in Orland Park, IL, is an S&P 500 company founded in 1937.
Geometrix is a registered trademark of Andrew Corporation.
Forward Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this news release are forward looking statements and we caution our stockholders and others that these statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. Factors that may cause actual results to differ from expected results include fluctuations in commodity costs, the company's ability to integrate acquisitions and to realize the anticipated synergies and cost savings, the effects of competitive products and pricing, economic and political conditions that may impact customers' ability to fund purchases of our products and services, the company's ability to achieve the cost savings anticipated from cost reduction programs, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, the timing of cash payments and receipts, end use demands for wireless communication services, the loss of one or more significant customers, and other business factors. Investors should also review other risks and uncertainties discussed in company documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Andrew Corporation
Rick Aspan, (News Media), 708-349-5166
publicrelations@andrew.com.
or
Scott Malchow (Investors), 708-873-8515