JDSU Acquires Location-Aware Software Company Arieso for $85M

JDSU has acquired Arieso, a location-aware software company, for $85 million. The recently-announced deal lets JDSU expand into additional sectors – including the promising small cell and mobile network optimization markets.

Arieso’s products are now used by mobile network operators to increase the performance of networks. Arieso’s solutions can locate, store and analyze data from mobile connections. The solutions also lead to more revenue and better experiences for customers. Its software also improves the performance of 2G, 3G and 4G mobile networks.

“Arieso’s mobility expertise, market leadership and culture of innovation are directly in line with our strategy to deliver unmatched network visibility and intelligence to our customers,” David Heard, president of the Communications Test and Measurement unit at JDSU, said in a company statement. “They are a recognized mobility leader and, as part of JDSU, create new, unique opportunities for innovation in one of the fastest-growing segments of the market.”

There are other benefits to JDSU with the acquisition. For instance, the technology increases visibility into the subscriber location, and radio access network (RAN) optimization teams can see higher return on investment (ROI) by identifying locations for small cells and other network enhancements, the company said.

Arieso’s products also complement current solutions from JDSU. These include PacketPortal, an open-software platform that offers end-to-end visibility across mobile networks. JDSU is already known for its role as a provider of optical products, test solutions and measurement solutions for the communications industry.

“The deal will mean that JDSU, which has up to now focused on broadband solutions, will move deeper into mobile,” TechCrunch added in a report about the deal.

“We’re excited about the complementary fit between Arieso and JDSU and the opportunity to extend the customer-centric location aware approach into the service and application domains, allowing mobile network operators to take a truly holistic approach to driving customer experience improvements,” Shirin Dehghan, CEO of UK-based Arieso, said in the statement. AT&T, Telefonica, MTN in Africa and Vodafone Group are among the companies now using Arieso.

Arieso’s products target RAN optimization and self-optimized networks (SON) markets. These are predicted to jump from a current value of $700 million to more than $1 billion by 2015.

Small cells are seen by many industry watchers as an important growth sector, too. Juniper Research predicts that the level of data delivered to mobile devices will jump over the next five years, and service providers will offload nearly 60 percent of traffic during that time period.

“According to Juniper’s report, service providers are increasingly looking to reduce the strain on their networks caused by the proliferation of connected smart devices, by deploying their own Wi-Fi hotspot networks and offering small cell solutions to end users,” MobilityTechzone reported.

Also, the deal will lead to JDSU offering more in the way of mobility software. An example is AriesoGEO, which is a multi-vendor, location-aware network monitoring and optimization solution. Another example is AriesoACP, an automated network planning technology. The two products relate to data from mobile connections and give mobile operators more visibility into usage patterns and service level activity, the company said.