Invensys’ Wonderware business unit today acquired mobile workforce management provider SAT Corp., marking a significant step in the company’s ability to deliver a broad range of wireless products to its customers.
SAT, a private company based in Houston and founded in 1995, is the maker of the IntelaTrac system, a hardware and software bundle that includes task management applications geared toward industrial settings.
The deal, worth $52 million, will expand the capabilities of Wonderware’s MES, manufacturing intelligence (EMI), and SCADA systems, the company said. SAT’s software drives workflow, manages procedures for mobile workers, and allows condition monitoring on stranded assets — that is, anything not connected to the distributed control system (DCS). The software works on devices running Windows Mobile and includes a task management, workflow, and scheduling engine along with APIs for connecting mobile apps to ERP, MES, and other landed information systems. Wonderware will use SAT as the foundation of its newly created Wonderware Mobile Solutions Group, the company said today.
“This [acquisition] fits into our strategy in a number of ways,” said Mark Davidson, Wonderware’s vice president of global marketing, in an interview with Managing Automation. “Our stated mission is to empower a wide range of production workers … Now we have the capability to touch more people dealing with maintenance of assets or even safety issues. There is just more opportunity there.”
Wonderware products are in place at more than 125,000 plants around the world. SAT’s IntelaTrac technology can be found in about 250 sites. The company already has a partnership with Invensys Process Systems. SAT also OEMs IntelaTrac to Honeywell Process Solutions as part of that company’s OneWireless initiative. Even under the Wonderware umbrella, the Honeywell relationship will remain intact, as Wonderware maintains an open software philosophy, Davidson said.
The main opportunity going forward, he said, is to leverage Wonderware’s global sales and support channel to move the SAT technology into new accounts as well as extend IntelaTrac beyond its traditional strength in the oil and gas, refining, and chemicals industries.
“Wonderware has a great channel-ready product [with SAT], but they are also buying some intellectual property,” said Alison Smith, research director at AMR Research, in an interview. “If they are clever about what they do with that, they can leverage this platform rapidly into high-value applications. SAT got into a niche” in oil and gas, Smith said, “but I see no reason why they can’t enjoy the same success in the CPG or food and beverage industries.”
The former SAT organization, now named the Wonderware Mobile Solutions Group, will be led by Mike Pring, the group’s new general manager and vice president of Wonderware’s customer support and services. Don Frieden, the former CEO of SAT, is now vice president of mobile solutions for Wonderware.
While the IntelaTrac product has already been integrated with the Wonderware Historian (formerly InSQL), Wonderware said it will create tight integration with other applications in its product portfolio and expects to release those updated versions next summer.
Until then, however, the company said, SAT is ready to be sold into the Wonderware customer base and to new customers.
“This solution is ready as is,” Davidson said. “There’s nothing we have to do other than push this through our channels to expand the markets globally, as well as into other vertical industries.”