Pioneering Telematics Company Also Lands
2.9 Million Euro ($2.5 Million US) First Close With Current Investors
LEUVEN, Belgium and BOSTON, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan has
selected ACUNIA as the 2002 Market Engineering Technology of the Year Award
recipient for its pioneering efforts in developing a global open architecture
standard for automotive telematics. In an awards presentation held March 11
in San Antonio, Tex., the Belgium- and U.S.-based telematics technology
provider was honored for its landmark ACUNIA Open Telematics Framework(R)
(OTF) architecture that allows service providers, aggregators and others in
the telematics chain to share common operating standards.
In a separate announcement, ACUNIA has also said it has acquired an
additional 2.9 million euro ($2.5 million US) in venture capital. With this
new round, the company will secure its current market position and support the
further rollout of its telematics software and hardware components in Europe,
the U.S. and Asia. As a statement of trust and commitment to the company, the
round was closed with all existing venture capitalists. ACUNIA says it is
heading for a positive cash flow by the end of 2002.
"One of the biggest challenges facing the rapidly growing telematics
industry is standardization of telematics architecture. Frost & Sullivan
honors ACUNIA for its pioneering efforts in developing an open architecture
system for automotive telematics. Offering all necessary tools for service
aggregators to build and operate integrated electronic services, the ACUNIA
Open Telematics Framework(R) represents a landmark development in the global
telematics industry. With this award, Frost & Sullivan recognizes ACUNIA's
outstanding achievements in the difficult past year and encourage the company
to forge ahead as market leader," says Joerg Dittmer at Frost & Sullivan.
To raise awareness of the value of open system architecture, ACUNIA has
worked in partnership with leading industry-wide organizations such as OSGi
(Open Services Gateway Initiative) and AMI-C (Automotive Multimedia Interface
Collaboration). In supporting these industry standards, ACUNIA developed and
introduced a variety of hardware, middleware and software products for the
entire telematics chain, from service creation through aggregation, all the
way down to individual embedded device terminals.
According to Marc Maes, co-CEO of ACUNIA, "This prestigious award by an
industry leader like Frost & Sullivan, the continued commitment by our current
investors and the on-going trust by a growing number of global customers,
strengthens our belief that the vision of an open telematics framework, which
we have been advocating for six years, is now becoming a reality.
"ACUNIA's current customers and partners are among the most visionary
companies in the world. The future will show that ACUNIA was able to provide
them with a genuine first-mover advantage in an extremely promising market.
"What's more, with the ACUNIA OTF's seamless integration of wireless
communications, remote management and business systems, service aggregators
may now even expand their marketing efforts into newly emerging residential
and mobile markets in addition to the automotive market creating additional
new market opportunities with relatively small development cycles."
Steven Buytaert, ACUNIA's co-CEO and chief technology officer, notes, "In
the end, the ACUNIA Open Telematics Framework brings to the telematics
industry what the World Wide Web brought to the Internet. It enables
telematics to reach its full potential. Internet usage skyrocketed because
the standardization of the Web made producing services as easy as consuming
services. Our OTF facilitates both the consumption and the production of
services as well."
NOTE:
ACUNIA will demonstrate its products at the following international
exhibitions and conferences:
-- Embedded Systems Conference, San Francisco, Calif., (Booth #426),
Mar. 12-16 ( wwww.esconline.com/sf )
-- CeBIT, Hamburg, Germany (Hall 13, Booth #B34), Mar. 13-20
( http://www.cebit.de )
-- Connections, Dallas, Texas, May 14-16 ( http://www.connectionsconference.com )
Trademark
ACUNIA, ACUNIA Open Telematics Framework and Xingu are trademarks or
registered trademarks of ACUNIA NV in the Benelux and/or other countries. All
other names and/or marks are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective owners.
About ACUNIA
ACUNIA develops and commercializes enabling software and hardware
solutions for next-generation telematics service management and deployment.
Headquartered in Leuven (Belgium) and with an office in Frankfurt, the company
employs about 100 people worldwide. The company's U.S. subsidiary, ACUNIA
Inc., has an office in Cambridge, Mass. and representation in Detroit, Mich.
ACUNIA, through its new business unit ACUNIA Embedded Solutions, develops
and commercializes hardware solutions, of which XINGU(R) 8000 Series is the
newest product line. Additional information about ACUNIA Embedded Solutions
is available at http://www.acunia.com/aes .
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, a global leader in international strategic market
consulting and training, presents Market Engineering Awards to companies that
demonstrate the diligence, perseverance, and dedication required to develop a
successful business plan and excel in the increasingly competitive global
marketplace.
Frost & Sullivan rigorously analyzes specific criteria to determine Market
Engineering Award recipients in a variety of regional and global market
landscapes. Founded in 1961, Frost & Sullivan is headquartered in San Jose, CA
with offices located worldwide: New York, San Antonio, Toronto, London, Paris,
Frankfurt, Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore, Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur. For further
information, visit http://www.awards.frost.com .
SOURCE ACUNIA NV
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Related links:
http://www.awards.frost.com
http://www.acunia.com/aes
CONTACT:
Wouter Piepers, Director Corporate Brand &
Communications of ACUNIA NV, +32 16 31 00 20, fax, +32 16 31 00
29, cell, +32 478 33 56 32, wouter.piepers@acunia.com; or in
Detroit, Mike Hedge of Hedge & Company, Inc., +1-248-350-2190,
mhedge@hedgeco.com, for ACUNIA NV
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