Partners Applaud Intel's Plan To Acquire Drone Maker Ascending Technologies

Intel in a blog post Monday said it plans to acquire drone manufacturer Ascending Technologies.

Ascending Technologies is a Krailling, Germany–based company with 75 employees that creates technology focusing on drones that already utilize Intel's RealSense 3-D camera to automatically detect and avoid obstacles. Many of the company's products are used in niche markets for visual inspections or 3-D map-making.

Partners applauded the move, saying that Ascending Technologies' products could be key to the development of the RealSense camera, which is used in PCs to add depth-tracking and gesture-sensing applications.

Kent Tibbils, vice president of marketing at ASI, a Fremont, Calif.-based Intel system builder, said the acquisition is "not completely surprising."

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"I don’t think Intel wants a repeat of the cellphone or tablet experience where they arrived late so I can see them being very aggressive in getting into emerging markets such as this," said Tibbils. "In the end, Intel’s probably not buying Ascending Technologies to be in the business of selling drones specifically, but is rather buying it to get a better understanding of the market where any number of their technologies can be used or sold to the ever-expanding number of manufacturers.

"I also wouldn’t be surprised if the drone company had some technology that Intel wanted to develop to enhance their 3-D depth camera as an example for other use or expansion into other markets," he said. "Either way, it’s not a risk to Intel if it doesn’t work."

Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., did not reveal further details about the acquisition in the blog post, including a time frame or cost.

"With Ascending Technologies, Intel gains expertise and technology to accelerate the deployment of Intel RealSense technology into the fast-growing drone market segment," said Josh Walden, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's New Technology Group, in a statement. "We plan for the Ascending Technologies team to continue supporting their current customers while also collaborating with Intel’s Perceptual Computing team to develop UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] technology that can help drones fly with more awareness of their environments."

Partners also said Intel's acquisition would give the company an advantage in the competitive chip industry, in addition to enhancing its RealSense camera. Chip maker Qualcomm last year also said it would delve into the drone market.

"While [the acquisition] certainly seems like a strange marriage, it appears that Intel, like so many in this industry, such as Microsoft, are looking at ways to diversify at a time when traditional hardware sales are in decline," said Andrew Kretzer, director of sales and marketing at Bold Data Technology, a Fremont, Calif.-based system builder.

According to Walden, Intel will provide more details on the Ascending Technologies acquisition at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, where Intel CEO Brian Krzanich will deliver the keynote Tuesday.

PUBLISHED JAN. 4, 2015