Nov/Dec 2004

Satamatics, already a significant player in tracking and telemetry, has reinforced its market position by acquiring ActionTrack Services, a specialist in vehicle and asset tracking.

The two companies will continued to trade independently, but Satamatics sees strategic benefits arising through the access it will gain to new markets, and says the combined business will cover multiple asset types, including vehicles, plant, shipping, buildings and individual personnel.

Satamatics is unusual in the tracking community in that it uses the Inmarsat system of geostationary satellites to provide location and comms, avoiding reliance on terrestrial infrastructure such as mobile phone networks.

ActionTrack Services provides a somewhat more conventional product range that draws on consumer and commercial GPS and communication technologies, and offers a variety of tracking solutions based on industry standard products and software. It emphasises the network-independence of its systems. The two companies are therefore largely complementary.