Laird® Acquires Summit®; Forms CPBU

On March 2, 2012, Laird Technologies, Inc®. announced that it had acquired Summit Data Communications®, a fast-growing provider of industrial and medical-grade wireless modules.  “The acquisition of Summit allows us to develop further our wireless connectivity offering, adding products to our range that allow wireless systems to function efficiently in difficult radio frequency environments like factories and hospitals,” said Nigel Keen, Laird’s Executive Chairman.

Summit was founded in 2006 in Akron, Ohio by five former Cisco Systems employees who sought to deliver high-quality Wi-Fi® modules and cards for underserved markets. Summit quickly expanded to serve more than 75 customers around the globe, growing to over 30 full-time employees and building a solid reputation for reliable, secure connectivity in challenging environments.

In April, Laird Technologies combined Summit with other wireless networking units to form a new business unit, the Connectivity Products Business Unit (CPBU), in its Wireless Systems Division. CPBU is headed by former Summit president Ron Seide and, like Summit, has its main office in Akron, Ohio.

Summit brings its lineup of industrial-grade and medical-grade Wi-Fi modules to the unit.  Other wireless modules offered by CPBU include Bluetooth modules and innovative “cableless” modules. The Bluetooth modules, which are known for outstanding range and performance, are popular in a broad range of devices including mobile point-of-sale terminals that enable secure payment processing in any location. The cableless modules, which operate in a range of frequency bands, provide highly reliable point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connectivity in situations where the use of cables is prohibitively challenging or expensive.

In forming CPBU, Laird Technologies is signaling that it has aggressive development plans for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cableless modules for an expanded set of markets, technologies, and geographies.

For more information on the creation of the Connectivity Products Business Unit, click here.