Axeda acquires Questra

U.S.-based machine-to-machine (M2M) remote services specialist Axeda has acquired its leading competitor, Redwood City, Calif.-based Questra Corp. The former rivals will now go to market under the Axeda brand, but the company says that it will continue to support both existing product lines indefinitely. “Our companies both built products that were in one way very similar, but also have complementary technologies,” explained Axeda marketing vice president Brian Anderson. “We see that by being able to combine some of the best traits of both, we’ll have an even stronger product line.”Future success in the remote services market is widely seen as being dependent on building close relationships with the major ERP vendors. Intriguingly Axeda has until now been working closely with Oracle, while Questra has focused on building its relationship with SAP. Now Axeda says that it intends to maintain partnership relationships with both ERP vendors, thereby offering the broadest choice to its users. The combined company will be based at Axeda’s existing headquarters in Foxboro with an additional office in Rochester, N.Y.