exactEarth Ltd. (TSX: XCT) (“the Company”), the leading provider of Satellite AIS (“S-AIS”) data services, announces that it has taken steps to streamline and re-organize its business in order to enhance its data delivery, strengthen its sales capabilities and lower its cost base.
“With the deployment of our first-generation constellation nearly complete, we are now in a position to reduce our satellite infrastructure operating costs as we continue our transition to an information and intelligence data services company,” said Peter Mabson, CEO of exactEarth. “In turn, we will reinvest a portion of the savings into our sales and marketing efforts and the development of our new data analytics products. The net effect of these changes will be a broader service offering, increased sales effort and lower cost base.
“When fully-deployed, our second-generation satellite system, hosted on the IridiumNEXT constellation, will consist of 58 satellites providing near real-time global vessel tracking and update capability, which will enable us to deliver a wide range of enhanced data analytics-based information to customers. The operational requirements for that satellite constellation will be largely handled by our partner, Harris Corporation, which gives us the opportunity to shift more of our resources towards sales and marketing, and data and information product development. While we still await launch timelines for the IridiumNEXT constellation, we do not expect the current delay to have an adverse impact on our long-term performance.”
Within its sales organization, exactEarth has now added more customer-facing product sales specialists and has appointed senior-team leads for various verticals, such as small-vessel tracking and surveillance. On the data infrastructure front, exactEarth has now completed its second-generation vessel information data system, which is integrated with the advanced analytics engine that the Company obtained through its alliance with Larus. This infrastructure will enable the development of a range of information and analytics data products the first of which are in beta phase with select customers now. The Company expects a formal market launch to occur during the first quarter of its fiscal year 2017.
These changes, combined with other cost rationalizations, are expected to generate annual cost savings of approximately $3.3 million, and will be achieved by reductions in the Company’s cost of sales and operating expenses. Accordingly, the Company will take a one-time charge of approximately $1.6 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016.
About exactEarth Ltd.
exactEarth is a leading provider of global maritime vessel data for ship tracking and maritime situational awareness solutions. Since its establishment in 2009, exactEarth has pioneered a powerful new method of maritime surveillance called Satellite-AIS (“S-AIS”) and has delivered to its clients a view of maritime behaviours across all regions of the world’s oceans unrestricted by terrestrial limitations. exactEarth has deployed an operational data processing supply chain involving a constellation of satellites, receiving ground stations, patented decoding algorithms and advanced “big data” processing and distribution facilities. This ground-breaking system provides a comprehensive picture of the location of AIS equipped maritime vessels throughout the world and allows exactEarth to deliver data and information services characterized by high performance, reliability, security and simplicity to large international markets. For more information, visit exactearth.com.
