Pumatech Buys Rival Starfish

Mobile synchronization technology firm Pumatech on Monday
announced plans to acquire Motorola subsidiary Starfish
Software, a deal that gives it key patents in the area of enterprise
synchronization software.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but it’s a safe bet the
price tag is nowhere near the millions paid by Motorola in 1998 to acquire
Starfish four years ago. Starfish will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Pumatech.

With Palm and HotSync leading the way in the enterprise synchronization
space and Microsoft’s popular Pocket PC supporting the ActiveSync platform,
the deal gives Pumatech toehold in the burgeoning space.

Starfish has been active in the SyncML initiative, the XML-based open
standard for sharing PIM data across networks and device while Pumatech
features SyncML in mobile enterprise synchronization products.

“This acquisition combines Pumatech’s expertise with PDAs and PCs with
Starfish’s expertise in the cell phone and over-the-air markets,” said Woody
Hobbs, CEO of Pumatech. Hobbs said the combined entity would target the
market for mobile, groupware and enterprise software, especially in the area
of complex synchronization.

Starfish’s flagship TrueSync product is a popular over-the-air phone
synchronization software that features end-to-end synchronization for
wireless data services, enterprise applications, mobile devices and
corporate infrastructures.