BOULDER, Colo.-Wireless location services developer SignalSoft Corp. said last week it acquired BFound.com, a Victoria, British Columbia-based company experienced in mobile asset tracking on the Internet.
By adding BFound.com’s tracking service to its suite of wireless location services, SignalSoft said it now can offer applications in four major location-based service categories, including information, billing, safety and tracking.
Future applications for SignalSoft’s and BFound.com’s combined technologies include tracking valuable assets such as packages, goods or people using time-and location-sensitive alerts (depending on the location of the assets), as well as the ability for users to find and communicate with friends when they are out in social situations, SignalSoft said.
The company also plans to offer applications that enable users to display maps on Wireless Application Protocol phones and provide support for satellite and packet-data networks.
“Our technology gives customers the ability to access the full functionality of the service through a standard Internet browser, cellular phone or emerging WAP-enabled wireless device from anywhere in the world,” said Tony Melli, BFound.com founder and chief technology officer.
Fifteen BFound.com employees will join SignalSoft, bringing SignalSoft’s total employees to about 100. SignalSoft said it plans to maintain and grow the organization in Victoria as a development center for its Internet and mobile tracking product lines.
Based in Boulder, Colo., with offices in the United Kingdom, SignalSoft was founded in 1995 and has data partnerships with several companies worldwide, including Comverse Technology Inc. and Siemens AG.
BFound.com, also established in 1995, integrates wireless communications, geographic positioning technologies and the Internet to provide location support for wireless data applications, automatic vehicle location and messaging systems and transaction/event-based e-commerce, the company said.
