What Does Qualcomm Selling Omitracs Mean? - Copy

Details on the Omnitracs Sale
Today Qualcomm Inc. announced the sale of its fleet management service company, Omnitracs Inc., to Vista Equity Partners, a U.S. private equity firm for $800 million in cash. While Derek Aberle, executive vice president of Omnitracs said that the “the opportunity for fleet management and telematics is evolving rapidly,” Qualcomm felt that Omnitracs would exist better as a “stand-alone” entity. The acquisition is expected to be completed during the first quarter of Qualcomm’s FY 2014. Vista has offices in San Francisco, Chicago and Austin.

What Does That Mean for Omnitracs?
Even as others are heavily investing in the commercial GPS tracking space, Qualcomm is making a strategic decision to exit. What that holds for the future of Omnitracs is unclear. Will Qualcomm support the product in the transition through the end of Q1 2014? Will Vista Equity Partners support product growth or look to take cost out of the company? Where will Omnitracs end up long-term and what will their strategy be?

What Are Customer Options?
With GPS logistics and FMCSA compliance such a critical need for competitive fleets, strategically positioning fleet partners is a key initiative. Possible options to consider:

• Step back to review critical needs assessments. Here is a link to the whitepaper on "Addressing the 10 Critical Needs in Trucking with Software."
   
• For larger fleets, consider piloting an alternative solution in some vehicles or new vehicles to maintain options. Here is a link to a GPS Tracking Buyer’s Guide with notes on pilots.
   
• Segment out an hour on internet research on Google to assess partners. Keywords to search: elogs, electronic driver logs, fmcsa compliance, trailer tracking, trucking gps
   
• Get an immediate demo to compare the leading alternative of integrated GPS, Safety, Maintenance, Elogs, DVIR & Alerts.