Motorola Solutions completes deal for Kodiak Networks

Motorola Solutions today announced that it has completed its purchase of Kodiak Networks, the push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) provider that has partnered with AT&T and other carriers to offer carrier-integrated PTT solutions that have complemented or replaced land-mobile-radio (LMR) systems during the past few years.

“Acquiring Kodiak Networks is another step in building Motorola Solutions’ communications and collaboration software suite and establishing annual recurring revenue streams,” Bruce Brda, Motorola Solutions’ executive vice president for products and solutions, said in a prepared statement. “Kodiak’s broadband PTT software expands our offerings for mobile network operators, especially in commercial markets, and complements our software and carrier capabilities.”

With the deal complete, Kodiak Networks will be referred to as "Kodiak, a Motorola Solutions company," according to a Motorola Solutions spokesman.

Kodiak representatives have participated in 3GPP standards efforts to establish a mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) standard for LTE. However, Brda’s statement and a Motorola Solutions press release both reiterate the company’s position that Kodiak’s offering will be used solely for offering commercial PTT services that will be “complementary” to Motorola Solutions’ mission-critical WAVE portfolio.

Motorola Solutions plans to offer its WAVE 5000 and WAVE OnCloud solutions for enterprises wanting the flexibility of an over-the-top PoC solution that can leverage any commercial network, according to Jeff Spaeth, Motorola’s corporate vice president for systems and software enablement, who spoke with IWCE’s Urgent Communications when the Kodiak deal was announced in May.

Motorola Solutions’ WAVE 7000 platform will be used to deliver the “high-performance, public-safety-centric” solution needed for first-responder voice on LTE networks such as FirstNet and the Emergency Services Network (ESN) in the United Kingdom, he said.

WAVE 7000 technology has been deployed in two undisclosed networks in the Middle East, according to Motorola Solutions officials. WAVE 7000 also is slated to be used in the Southern Linc LTE system that will support commercial users and critical utilities’ communications in the southeast U.S.

Many in the public-safety community have been curious what impact the mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) standard included in Release 13 of LTE—approved last year by the international 3GPP standards body—might have on LMR usage in the United States, particularly where FirstNet is able to deploy a public-safety-grade LTE system.

Motorola Solutions’ WAVE 7000 meets most of the MCPTT functional requirements today, but the company does not expect to have a product that meets the complete MCPTT “in the short-term future,” Spaeth said. However, Motorola Solutions plans to develop a fully compliant MCPTT eventually, which could include implementing some technology acquired in the Kodiak deal, he said.

By acquiring Kodiak, Motorola Solutions will have a solution that will allow it to compete in the market for carrier-integrated PoC solutions that are targeted to the enterprise market, according to Spaeth.

“The third leg of the (PoC) stool is all about the carrier space, particularly targeting the commercial markets,” Spaeth said during the May interview. “In terms of working with carriers and having a presence and a lot of knowhow in the carrier space—particularly in the Americas—obviously Kodiak brings a lot of that. So this helps us really strengthen our offerings in that third leg of the stool.

“Kodiak’s business model is partnering with the carriers and selling everything through the carriers. That’s a segment we have not had a lot of presence in to date.”

Based in Plano, Texas, Kodiak Networks is a privately held company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Revenues from Kodiak are not expected to make a material difference in Motorola Solutions’ annual earnings estimates for this year, Motorola Solutions officials said during the company’s most recent quarterly earnings call.