Takeovers Raytheon gets Hughes TMS

TAKEOVERS

Raytheon gets Hughes TMS

The “For Sale” sign out the front of GM’s Hughes Transp Management Systems in Fullerton CA had been there so long it was getting faded and weather-beaten but finally it has a bright new “SOLD” sticker stuck over it. Boston-area based radar and electronics giant Raytheon has taken it in.

The old Hughes TMS is provisionally calling itself Raytheon HTMS and is going to be a part of Raytheon Systems Company with head offices in northern Virginia. (Unconfirmed rumor — a bunch of insurance companies were in Boston recently flogging a certain northern VA toll road for sale as a Raytheon test track.)

HTMS people are delighted their ownership is resolved, and say they are in good financial shape.

“We virtually own the CVO (truck) end of the business in North America and 407-ETR is shaping up as a terrific showcase for our cashless toll road technology. We think there is great synergy between ourselves and Raytheon, which is a world leader in aviation electronics and has a big road builder in Raytheon Constructors & Engineers” said one HTMS rep.

HTMS transponders as sold for weigh station bypass, accelerated border crossing and electronic tolling (in Toronto) are being integrated with the J-bus in several lines of new trucks. The J-bus is designed to manage electronic data from various engine functions and trip recording systems so that trucking companies can efficiently track their vehicles fuel usage, engine temperatures, driving patterns, maintenance, tax and fee liabilities and so forth.

J-bus integration should allow HTMS to develop sales to truckers interested in fleet management. HTMS readers at trucking yards could be programmed to download data from the truck at the end of a trip as it enters the yard. At present many trucking companies have to use handheld or plug in devices to transfer trip and truck data to the fleet management system in the main office. The same transponders could be used for tolling and weigh station bypass, reducing cab clutter.

HTMS says that the way the new North American DSRC standard is shaping up it will have a simple migration path from existing equipment.

Sirit buys TI’s e-toll

Sirit Technologies has bought from Texas Instruments its electronic toll equipment business that is so far the sole supplier to California of electronic toll transponders and roadside readers. A Canadian public company based in Markham in the Toronto area, Sirit specializes in dedicated shortrange radio applications and has done systems integration for electronic toll projects in the Canadian maritime provinces, and parking systems with transponders. It has an agreement with MFS Network Technologies which makes it a Canadian partner of the WorldCom subsidiary, which has an exclusive North American license to supply and install Texas Instruments toll equipment.

Sirit has the opportunity to build on the large base of electronic toll equipment the MFS/TIRIS venture has supplied mostly in California — 165 toll lanes and some 400,000 in-vehicle transponders. These are 902 to 928MHz backscatter devices built to the legislated California standard called Title 21. No other supplier has sought to compete in the California market with the Texas Instruments designed equipment. Actual manufacturing is subcontracted to the Mexican electronics firm Elamex at Juarez just across the border from El Paso, western TX.

In the short-term at least Sirit would appear to have big sales opportunities in California with major increases in placement of transponders in the toll facilities and HOT lanes in the LA, San Diego and Bay areas. Bay area bridges must represent a market for 300k to 400k tags and LA/San Diego toll roads a similar large market.

HTMS ASTMv6-standard transponders are also actively used in California as part of the Lockheed Martin operated HELP program at truck weigh-&-inspection stations and within several years there seem likely to be a migration to an integrated system that could serve other functions. They are also in use at US-Mexico border crossings for accelerated truck clearance.

Sirit will also pick up the old TI part of TI/MFS contracts for E-470 in Denver CO, the Ted Williams tunnel ETC in Boston MA (though the future of that equipment is in doubt under a new ETC bid by the Mass Turnpike) and small installations in Chile and Fushan prov China.

Included in the purchase is some TIRIS test equipment and computers. The TIRIS trade mark will be kept by TI and no employees are transferred as part of the deal. TIRIS chief of marketing Oliver Crosswhite resigned from TI Dec 31.

Michael Briand CEO of Sirit told us his first priority is to ensure that the ongoing business that the company gets from TI is not disrupted. Sirit takes over the TI orders and its supply subcontract with Elamex. Briand says he is considering whether to establish a US base. The company does substantial parking access business in the US with a system called HandsFree that uses a low frequency TI transponder. It has a shell subsidiary Sirit USA, which can be expanded.

MFS owns about 3% of the stock of Sirit, Briand told us but that is being diluted by the issue of some $7m of new Sirit shares. The company was formed in Dec 93. It has installed e-toll systems in the Maritime provinces — on bridges in Halifax, the new Cobequid Pass Highway 104 in Nova Scotia and on the harbor bridge in St John New Brunswick. MFS has done major subcontract work on these jobs. In a press release Briand said his company hopes to become “a major player” in e-toll, vehicle monitoring and other intelligent transp fields. (Contact Sirit 905 940 4404)