U‑blox, provider of positioning and wireless communication technologies, announced it acquired Rigado’s Bluetooth modules business in an asset purchase agreement. Rigado is a provider of edge‑as‑a-service gateway solutions for commercial IoT, and began offering certified wireless modules in 2015.
This acquisition will allow u‑blox to extend their range of products in the area of Bluetooth low energy, Zigbee and Thread, as well as to access additional market segments and channels.
The combined short range radio offering adds new modules targeting consumer‑oriented markets, for instance sport and fitness, while Rigado’s existing customers will get access to all u‑blox Wi‑Fi, cellular, and positioning solutions for their IoT applications. In addition, Rigado’s customers will benefit from u‑blox’s global support capabilities.
Going forward, Ben Corrado, former CEO of Rigado, will be part of u‑blox’s Short Range Radio product strategy team. With him, other key staff of Rigado’s modules division have also joined u‑blox, while the existing Rigado office in Salem (OR) will be the North American Short Range Radio Engineering Center for u‑blox.
The Rigado Bluetooth modules portfolio will be re‑branded under the u‑blox name and integrated into the short range radio offering.
“Rigado’s Bluetooth modules business complements our already extensive portfolio and gives us access to more channels and new interesting customers in the area of smart home, wearables, as well as fitness,” said Herbert Blaser, head product center Short Range Radio, u‑blox. “We’re also looking forward to the ongoing collaboration with distribution partners like Digi‑key or Future Electronics, where we’ll be able to offer a seamless transition,” he noted.
“We’re very proud of both our market‑leading modules division and Rigado’s fast‑growing edge infrastructure gateway business”, Greg Rau, president of Rigado, added. “The value we capture from the acquisition of the modules division will allow us to further accelerate Rigado’s growth in the gateway market – especially in key solution areas such as smart building and asset tracking.”
u‑blox and Arvento Mobile Systems announced recently imminent launch of its new imt.x1 vehicle tracking system. Arvento’s imt.x1 is highly differentiated from other vehicle tracking devices on the market, thanks to its 6‑axis Gyro sensor which can sense three‑dimensional movement caused by emergency acceleration, panic braking and directional yaw and drift.
With connectivity options including dual CANBus and Bluetooth, the system is also eCall compatible and captures and provides data for accident analysis and other vehicle tracking functions. The system also uses the next generation Arm based microcontroller.
