PTC announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Axeda Corporation, a pioneer in the development of solutions to securely connect machines and sensors to the cloud, for approximately $170 million in cash. Axeda's technology innovation, extensive customer base, and powerful partnerships directly complement the PTC ThingWorx business, and will accelerate PTC's ability to deliver best-in-class solutions across the entire Internet of Things technology stack. Subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions and certain regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to be completed in PTC's fiscal Q4 2014.
Secure connectivity, and the ability to leverage machine data to create new business value, are critical components of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology stack and are in increasing demand as more companies pursue a smart, connected product strategy. An innovator in the IoT technology market, Axeda currently serves more than 150 customers, processing hundreds of millions of machine messages daily across multiple industry sectors. The company has a broad partner ecosystem that includes leading mobile network operators, edge device and design-in device makers, systems integrators, and business systems/analytics providers, and its technology leadership led to several strategic OEM agreements with leading IoT technology and solution providers.
Core to Axeda's IoT technology is the ability to enable companies to establish secure connectivity and remotely monitor and manage a wide range of machines, sensors, and devices. The Axeda Machine Cloud Service includes machine-to-machine (M2M) and IoT connectivity services, software agents, and toolkits that enable companies to connect their products to the cloud using virtually any communication channel (e.g. cellular networks, the Internet, WiFi, or satellite). Axeda's end-to-end security strategy covers all levels of the IoT technology stack, including network, application, user, and data security. Axeda has attained ISO 27001:2005 certification, supporting the company's focus on delivering the highest levels of security, performance, and availability.
In addition, the Axeda Connected Machine Management application set empowers companies to remotely monitor and service products, including the ability to deliver over-the-air software updates.
In the IoT era, PTC's customers are developing increasingly smart and connected products which can generate value in new ways as streams of real-time operational data are captured, analyzed, and shared to deepen a company's understanding of its products' performance, use, and reliability. PTC intends to leverage the Axeda technology portfolio to complement its existing ThingWorx rapid application development platform and its existing service lifecycle management (SLM) and extended product lifecycle management (PLM) solution portfolio.
The acquisition is expected to add $25 million to $30 million of revenue in FY'15. PTC expects to draw on its credit facility to finance the transaction. Axeda has approximately 160 employees primarily located in the United States.
For more details, visit http://www.axeda.com and http://www.ptc.com