PRI Automation, Inc. Acquires Industrial Control Software Developer, Commotion Technology, Inc.
Advanced Robotic Control Software Firm to Help Extend Both Internet Integration and the Range of Capabilities in New Robotics Products
BILLERICA, Mass., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- PRI Automation, Inc. (Nasdaq: PRIA - news), the global leader in advanced automation systems and software to the semiconductor industry, today announced it has completed the acquisition of Commotion Technology, Inc., a developer of motion control software for robotic devices. Commotion will receive 120,000 shares of PRI Automation stock, placing the value of the deal at just over $2 million.
Commotion Technology's Java-based ControlFoundry(TM) motion control software is currently implemented in products developed by PRI's OEM System Division and will now become the standard platform for robotic control programming in other PRI products.
``Commotion Technology brings valuable expertise and the latest software programming technology to our company,'' said Mitchell Weiss, vice president of strategy and technology, PRI Automation. ``Our next generation robotic systems will require greater interoperability and integration with the critical information flows inside the semiconductor fab. Commotion Technology provides us with a team of people who understand advanced control software and standardized programming interfaces which we can immediately apply to other parts of our product line, particularly our automated material handling systems (AMHS). This will shorten our product development times giving us faster time-to-market for new products.''
``The integration of Commotion Technology's expertise in motion control with PRI's factory automation systems and software make this a very productive match,'' said John Tenney, president and CEO of Commotion Technology. ``PRI's global presence in the semiconductor industry opens up a much wider range of customers for our motion control software solutions. Customers benefit by getting the latest in Java-based control software supported by a worldwide support infrastructure. We are excited to be part of the PRI team.''
``Commotion Technology was a key partner in the development of our next generation controller,'' said Robert de Neve, vice president and general manager, PRI OEM Systems Division. ``Because ControlFoundry is an object oriented software architecture, it provides easy cross-platform migration to other PRI product lines without having to rewrite all of the code. ControlFoundry is also Internet-ready. We get out-of-the-box remote access to embedded controllers via the Ethernet. This allows our own customer support engineers, or our customers' technical support engineers, to view the same system data concurrently.''
ControlFoundry is a software application that combines robust motion control and trajectory generation with graphical programming and 3-D simulation. It provides an integrated programming and runtime environment for robotic systems supporting machine vision, sensors, SECS interfaces, and web connectivity. The system provides robotic equipment designers with an easy- to-use concurrent engineering capability that allows rapid deployment of prototypes and finished products while increasing system flexibility and performance.
About Commotion Technology, Inc
Commotion Technology was founded in 1996 to build powerful, easy-to-use industrial automation software applications. Commotion's premier product, ControlFoundry, enables manufacturers to leverage programming resources for industrial applications.
About PRI Automation
PRI Automation, Inc., headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, is the leading global supplier of advanced factory automation systems and software to semiconductor manufacturers and OEM equipment suppliers. PRI is the only company to provide a tightly integrated and flexible hardware and software solution that optimizes the flow of materials and information throughout the fab improving the productivity of semiconductor manufacturing. The company has thousands of systems installed at hundreds of locations throughout the world. For more information visit PRI online at www.pria.com.
For more information contact
Michael J. Greeley
Stauch Vetromile & Mitchell
401-438-0614
michaelg@svmmarcom.com
Jeffrey Nestel-Patt
PRI Automation
978-670-4270
jnestel-patt@pria.com
SOURCE: PRI Automation, Inc. |
