It’s not every day that one of L-Tron’s technology partners is featured in the mainstream media, but Zebra Technologies’ April 2014 announcement of its proposal to acquire Motorola Solutions’ Enterprise division was big, mainstream news.
Motorola’s Enterprise business focuses on mobile computing, communications and data-capture technologies, while Zebra is best known for its barcode-printing, asset-tracking and IoT solutions. Zebra Technologies CEO Anders Gustafsson envisions that the combination of the two complimentary businesses will establish a “market leader in enterprise asset intelligence.”
As The Wall Street Journal put it, “Most people have never heard of the company that agreed to pay $3.5 billion for Motorola Solutions Inc.’s scanner business. But behind the scenes, Zebra Technologies Corp., named for the black and white stripes of the bar codes it prints, helps keep track of American business: everything from the piles of denim stacked in retail stores to the packages shipped by FedEx Corp.” The full WSJ article is available here.
The WSJ article continued with some Zebra history of which I was not aware: “Zebra got its start in 1969, when engineers Edward Kaplan and Gerhard Cless, who had worked together at Teletype Corp., each threw in $500. The company was originally called Data Specialties Inc. and helped manufacturers track products using paper-type punch machines. By the 1980s, it had shifted to bar codes and changed its name to Zebra. While still heavily weighted toward manufacturing, Zebra also counts some large retailers as clients, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. The company also helps track people. Half of all drivers’ licenses are printed by Zebra equipment.”
On May 5, 2014, the Zebra-Motorola plan transitioned from a tentative proposal to a definitive purchase agreement. The sale will be completed by the end of 2014. Approximately 4,500 Motorola Enterprise employees will transfer to Zebra, consisting of the teams who currently staff Motorola’s large Symbol Group – its barcode-scanner division.
More on the acquisition, including a video statement by Anders Gustafsson, is available here. For Gustafsson, the justification for the Zebra-Motorola transaction is clear: “Simply stated, Zebra and Motorola Solutions Enterprise business – together – means we will better serve our customers with more complete solutions.” He continued, “For us, the trends and the corresponding opportunities are clear. Enterprises are becoming smarter about their own assets, workforces and workflow, largely fueled by the ubiquity of sensors and Cloud-based mobile workforce applications that are generating invaluable and always-on data streams. When this transaction closes, we believe our company will be uniquely positioned to help businesses transform the physical to digital, so business operations can be more tightly monitored enabling smarter business decisions. Together we can make the smart enterprise a reality.”