Airista acquires Ekahau Real Time Location System RFID over WiFi business

The Ekahau RTLS technology is used primarily in healthcare environments, providing location tracking through RFID over WiFi.

March 3, 2016

2 min read

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WiFi tags, such as the one shown here, are part of the Ekahau Real Time Location System, which achieves RFID over WiFi location capability.

Airista Flow, which is an Airista affiliate company and provider of WiFi-enabled location services, acquired the Ekahau Real Time Location System (RTLS) business. Ekahau RTLS has operations in Reston, VA and Helsinki, Finland. Ekahau’s RTLS technologies are used widely in healthcare environments and are also deployed in education and other environments, including manufacturing and warehousing. The company also operates a separate business, Ekahau ESS, which offers WiFi design tools. When the acquisition was announced, Ekahau chief executive officer Michel Wendell explained, “Ekahau ESS will continue to operate as an independent company focusing on its own market.”

Further commenting on the acquisition, Wendell said, “During the past 15 years, Ekahau has built a very strong presence in the RTLS space as well as the WiFi network design and optimization market. We are thrilled to have met Airista who, with their current business offerings and outlook, is a great match for Ekahau RTLS and its customer base, and to take the RTLS solutions to the next level.”

Airista Flow will continue to offer the current RTLS products and fully support the Ekahau RTLS customer base, the company said, adding that it intends to expand these offerings through the integration of the existing Airista and Ekahau platforms.

“Airista Flow will assume responsibility for the ongoing servicing of the Ekahau RTLS customer base, worldwide,” Ekahau said in an announcement of the acquisition. “Ryan Madigain, Airista Flow president, will assume operational control of Ekahau RTLS and lead the business both in the U.S. and Finland.”

Madigan commented, “The RTLS market is at a point where some consolidation is needed to drive standardization and further innovation. Combining the WiFi locating and software capabilities of Ekahau RTLS and Airista will lead to the continued creation of highly refined, innovative products intended to address business issues our customers face.”

Airista’s chief executive officer, Sy Sajjad, added, “We are very pleased to welcome the Ekahau RTLS team and customer base into the Airista family. Ekahau RTLS has earned a well-deserved, excellent reputation in the market for providing innovative solutions to their customers. We see the combination of talent and technology between Ekahau RTLS and Airista as an exciting platform for continued growth and look forward to working with the Ekahau RTLS team and customer base.”