In the last year, we spent a lot of time examining some of the GIS vendors and the products and/or services they have to offer. So far, these business entities have been able to offer their services by utilizing their own funding or, perhaps, by bringing a private investor or two onboard.
Sometimes, however, in the GIS industry, the only way that creativity and innovation in new products and services can continue to thrive is through Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activity. This occurs when a buyer sees the potential of adding much more value to their current product and service line by acquiring another entity.
Sometimes this makes good sense. After all, why waste critical resources trying to come up with new ideas to be competitive when you can just purchase them?
A typical example of this was recently announced in the state of Oregon. The buyer is GeoComm, and they are buying a company called GeoSolve, Inc. It should be noted that the latter will not entirely dissolve when it is bought out; rather, it will be incorporated as a subsidiary.
The new set of services which will be leveraged for GeoComm when this transaction occurs will be:
- Further enhanced E-911 functionalities (this will be a new service offering for the buyer).
- An extensive set of GIS data management tools and technologies. The GeoSolve will now have much greater access to GIS-based data management tools.
According to John Bryant, CEO, and President of GeoComm, “GeoComm is delighted with the GeoSolve acquisition and we are fully committed to maintaining the high level of service customers have experienced with GeoSolve . . . the future is bright as we continue to enhance the way we manage and implement GIS data for 9-1-1 and we look forward to working with the GeoSolve team on this journey.” (SOURCE: https://www.directionsmag.com/pressrelease/6027).
GeoTel is a telecommunications research and GIS mapping firm that researches and provides telecom datasets for more than 5,500 cities in the United States and worldwide. GeoTel’s expertise includes specialists in economic geography, geospatial engineering, web GIS, and telecommunications GIS Data infrastructure.
