AirTies plans to acquire Technicolor's (Euronext Paris:TCH) in-home WiFi Management software business, dubbed Wireless Doctor, and related personnel, subject to customary closing conditions. The two companies also plan to partner across technology and sales to offer WiFi solutions to service providers globally. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Technicolor's Wireless Doctor, previously known as WiFi Doctor and Conductor, is a suite of cloud-based performance management software, embedded decision logic, and apps used by service providers to support field technicians, network engineers, customer care agents, marketing personnel, and data analysts to improve the in-home WiFi experience. As part of the agreement, AirTies will acquire the Wireless Doctor software portfolio, related intellectual property, approximately 30 employees from Technicolor, and gain access to relationships with existing Wireless Doctor customers and partners. The acquisition will be used to complement and integrate with AirTies' Remote Manager, a cloud-based optimization suite designed to provide real-time visibility and historical performance analysis to manage the consumer WiFi experience.
"One of the most critical issues facing service providers today is the lack of visibility and control over their subscribers' in-home WiFi experience," said Philippe Alcaras, CEO of AirTies. "We have been tremendously impressed by Technicolor's software, intellectual property and personnel, and look forward to strengthening our position as the leader in smart WiFi solutions for service providers. We are also extremely excited to partner with Technicolor on ways to leverage our smart WiFi software and their product portfolio to serve both mutual and new customers around the globe."
"As we sought out strategic alternatives for our Wireless Doctor software business and the talented team behind it, we could not have found a better home than with AirTies," said Luis Martinez-Amago, president and general manager, Connected Home Division of Technicolor. "The smart WiFi market is poised for exponential growth as the connected home environment becomes more complex and congested. The resulting new business agreement between AirTies and Technicolor will provide service providers with 'ready-to-go' solutions that integrate the best products from two leading players in this space. This important new addition to our expanding HERO partnership program reflects Technicolor's ongoing mission to collaborate and provide the services and devices that bring seamless entertainment experiences to homes everywhere."
AirTies' Smart WiFi software is designed to help operators upgrade in-home WiFi performance and coverage, proactively fix and monitor WiFi issues, and improve overall customer satisfaction. The software intelligently directs consumers' devices to the best available channel and band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz), based on real-time home network conditions. It also enables gateways to serve as the WiFi mesh controller, lowering equipment investments for operators by reducing the number of extenders required.
The Wireless Doctor team is currently based in Belgium and will remain so after deal closure. In addition, AirTies also announced the opening of a new product innovation and operations office in Paris, France.