Telit, an enabler of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications has agreed to acquire Silicon Valley-based GainSpan Corporation. GainSpan is a wireless connectivity solution provider that specializes in the design and development of ultra-low power Wi-Fi technology. The company manufactures and commercializes chips and modules for battery-powered devices and related intellectual property (IP) with embedded software, including network stacks and application reference designs. GainSpan has over 90 employees, mostly R&D and application and support engineers, spread across an R&D center in Bangalore, India and San Jose, California.
According to the September 2016 “IoT Forecasts” from Machina Research, by 2025 about 75% of the more than 27 billion IoT connections will be short range, which is largely comprised of the various types of Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is a leading technology for applications within the IoT that are battery-dependent, due to the low-power consumption associated with the technology.
The new business addition positions Telit to expand its complete end-to-end IoT solutions portfolio and address the growing market of battery-powered devices that rely on Wi-Fi and other low-power technologies. GainSpan products are situated at the intersection of several emerging segments in IoT such as healthcare, building management, cold-chain logistics, and a wide range of commercial and industrial application areas. GainSpan’s top-tier customer base leverage the company’s IP to deliver seamless integration of Wi-Fi with low-power technologies like BLE and 6LoWPAN for reliable, secure connectivity.
Assets from GainSpan align well with existing Telit products including cellular, BT/BLE, GNSS modules; IoT connectivity and platform services, strengthening the company’s “sensor-to-cloud” solution proposition. The integration of the unique variety of low-power Wi-Fi technology from GainSpan, with low standby current and fast wake-up time into the Telit portfolio enables customers to extend the battery life of their devices for years. GainSpan IP also offloads Wi-Fi services and networking functionality from the application. Customer devices can be designed with a simple and inexpensive MCU or without one at all.
