Print
Email
Print Edition Stories
MHT's Efrain Viscarolasaga: Preparing the smart grid for more power
NECN: Scvngr tours explore cities, campuses by cell phone
MHT Editor Doug Banks on NECN: Decoding the Gen Y workforce
A staple of the local technology scene since the 1960s, radio frequency and semiconductor technology maker M/A-COM hasn’t been an independent entity since 1995, when it was acquired by Pennsylvania-based Amp Inc. for $277 million.
But after being sold again by its more recent parent company, Bermuda-based Tyco Electronics Ltd., in September to British aerospace technology developer Cobham PLC, the 900-employee commercial division of M/A-COM is set to become an independent company once again. Cobham, which paid $425 million for both the defense and aerospace and commercial segments of M/A-COM, said its main interest was M/A-COM’s aerospace division, and that the commercial segment is on the sales block.
Officials have not named any potential suitors, but according to Steve Hurwitz, a director of business development for M/A-COM’s commercial division — now named M/A-COM Technology Solutions Inc., which includes semiconductors, radio frequency identification (RFID) systems and other industrial wireless technologies — said the goal is to sell the unit to a private equity firm or large electronics company. He also added that the company has attracted interest from both areas, and that it expects a deal to be announced by summer.
“Knowing we are going to be divested, we are feeling more like the independent M/A-COM of the 1990s than ever before,” said Hurwitz. “You can feel the entrepreneurial spirit coming back.”
‘More intelligent’ GPS, RFID
The company is also acting like an independent entity publicly. Earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it showed off some of its new products. The highlight was a new GPS technology to be included in the latest version Ford Motor Co.’s SYNC onboard vehicle location system, which is expected to be included in all 2010 vehicle models in the United States. M/A-COM’s technology will enable the system to continue to provide directions — “dead reckoning” — in the event of a signal failure, using data such as wheel speed and directional travel.
M/A-COM is also pushing forward a new sensor-based RFID technology for forklifts, that uses gyroscopes, acoustic sensors and controller logic devices to automatically record pallet data during movement, something that has traditionally been done manually. The RFID technology is an example of the direction M/A-COM intends to proceed as an independent company, according to Hurwitz.
“It’s putting a little bit more intelligence in things that are already out there,” he said.
Asif Anwar, a director at British research firm Strategy Analytics, said that while Cobham faces a challenge in trying to sell a company in the current economy, M/A-COM still has a name and technology that should succeed as an independent entity.
“While the company’s exposure to the mainstream cellular market has declined over the past few years, M/A-COM retains significant market presence in the RF industry serving a variety of diverse markets including medical, wireless infrastructure, consumer electronics and radio communications systems,” he said. “(We) believe that M/A-COM will be able to successfully operate independently as a commercial entity with a focus on higher value markets.”
RSS Feeds
Comments
Please Login/Register to post comments.
No comments have been added or approved.