CT: Please give us some details about the acquisition. What triggered the company to go for the deal?
Rodericks:Zebra acquired Motorola’s enterprise unit for $3.5 billion, comprising of $200 million in cash and $3.25 billion of debt to fund the deal. For years people have talked about bringing these two industry leaders together. Both companies got started building bar code products: Zebra printed the bar codes and Motorola scanned them. Over the years each company added many complementary technologies to their portfolios. The conditions were right to build this new market leader and together we can combine the strengths of each company and build the undisputed leader in enterprise mobile devices and the Internet of Things.
CT: How will the acquisition help Zebra gain competitive edge?
Rodericks: With the acquisition of Motorola’s Enterprise mobility business, Zebra will be the global leader in Enterprise Asset Intelligence, offering a full suite of solutions for gaining real-time visibility into assets, people and transactions.The acquisition will combine the complementary offerings of two industry leaders in asset tracking solutions to create a market leader in enterprise asset intelligence for the Connected Age.
CT: What will be the channel play?
Rodericks: Both Zebra and Motorola’s go-to-market strategy will focus on channel partnerships. Zebra will continue to be committed to our channel strategy. We help businesses make their enterprise smarter so they can serve their customers better. With Zebra’s integrated solutions, the growing mobile workforce will be empowered with real-time intelligence, thereby delivering greater customer value and experience.
CT: What is your roadmap in the enterprise market for the next 2 years?
Rodericks:There are two key trends driving this space: mobile workers and the Internet of Things. Workers in every organization are on the move. And these mobile workers need tools to allow them to use cloud-based applications and feed those applications with real-time information about assets and resources in their environment. Motorola Solutions has been the leader for many years in supplying rugged smart mobile computers used by workers on the move. And Zebra has been a leader in bar codes and RFID. Together we will be a much larger company that is the leader in smart mobile computing and the Internet of Things.
CT: What are your immediate plans for Indian market?
Rodericks: We are providing transparency to all our employees so they understand what is going on and what to expect, so that they can communicate effectively about our progress. At the highest level, you can expect two things—a commitment to maintain business continuity and open, transparent communication from Zebra. We expect to complete the acquisition by the end of the year. Once completed, we’ll operate as a combined business under the Zebra name. We are focused on ensuring as little disruption as possible to our business, our customers and our employees. To that end, there is rigorous integration process in place to evaluate how to best bring these two companies together.