About Us

Corporate Background

Magellan is an industry leader and innovator in the GPS and GNSS market for professional survey, GIS, OEM and consumer positioning and navigation.

Creators of the award-winning Magellan® RoadMate™ series portable car navigation systems, the Hertz NeverLost® system and the eXplorist™ family of handheld outdoor navigation devices, Magellan is recognized as a premier provider of reliable, easy-to-use consumer navigation solutions.

Backed by over twenty years experience developing GPS for survey and mapping, the Magellan Professional brand of products (formerly Thales Navigation/Ashtech) are trusted by survey and GIS businesses worldwide. The ProMark™ series leads the market as the best-selling single frequency GPS in the survey industry.

Magellan OEM solutions have been adopted by partners such as Hertz, LandRover, Brandmotion, and AAA for easy, cost-efficient integration across a range of industries including consumer electronics, avionics, vehicle tracking and navigation, agriculture, marine and security applications.

The company has experienced dramatic revenue growth as GPS applications have proliferated across consumer and commercial markets. Magellan continues to meet the needs of customers for accurate, reliable and easy-to-use GPS solutions.

Magellan is privately held by a group of investors led by Shah Capital Partners and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California with European headquarters in Carquefou, France.

Vital Statistics

635 employees worldwide
14 locations, including Santa Clara and San Dimas, California, U.S.A.; Carquefou, France as well as a technology research and development center in Moscow, Russia
20,000 retail outlets and 100 international distributors globally
U.S. sales offices in California, Oklahoma, Virginia and Georgia
International sales offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Moscow, The Netherlands, France and Chile
Corporate Headquarters in Santa Clara, California, U.S.A.
European Headquarters in Carquefou, France
Chief Executive Officer: Nelson Chan
Privately held by a group of investors led by Shah Capital Partners

Markets
Magellan delivers sophisticated GPS satellite navigation and positioning solutions and products to a broad spectrum of rapidly expanding commercial, consumer, industrial, scientific and government markets worldwide.

With a balanced portfolio of solutions, the applications for both the Magellan and Magellan Professional line of solutions are diverse: from auto navigation, hiking, hunting, recreational boating and fishing to public safety, transportation, agriculture, forestry and aviation system integration, seismic analysis, open pit mining and more.

Among the company's many customers are Hertz Corporation, AAA, Brandmotion, the United States and Canadian Coast Guards, Universal Avionics, U.S. Defense Mapping Agency, Modular Mining, the Geographical Survey Institute of Japan, and retailers such as Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Sears, Comp USA and Office Depot.

Products and Core Technologies
Magellan solutions and technologies offer a broad array of capabilities that are in high demand across several industries. This enables Magellan to compete effectively at the core technology, component and system levels, providing platforms that enable new applications in ever-expanding markets around the globe.

Surveying, mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) products for consumer and professional electronics
Technology and IP licensing
Consumer GPS solutions for consumer electronics, auto navigation, outdoor recreation, and marine
Vehicle navigation solutions and intelligent transportation technologies

Technology Firsts

First 3.5” color screen on a rugged handheld (2005)
First built-in Nationwide mapping (2003)
First full-color handheld GIS Data Collector (2003)
First Internet-enabled reference station (2002)
First GPS survey system under $5000 (2000)
First GPS handheld offering industry standard Secure Digital Memory Card (SDMC) capability (2000)
First handheld satellite communications device (1998)
First GPS+GLONASS RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) system (1997)
First high-volume, high-precision GPS OEM board-level product priced under $100 (1997)
First professional Long-Range Kinematic (LRKTM) GPS receiver (1997)
First consumer GPS product priced under $100 (1997)
First commercial GPS+GLONASS receiver (1996)
First GPS-based vehicle navigation system in the U.S. (1995)
First commercial 3DF-ADU, Attitude Determination Unit (1990)
First European integrated differential GPS receiver (1989)
First U.S. commercial handheld GPS receiver for positioning and navigation (1989)
First European GPS receiver (1985)

History

Magellan represents the combined strength of the world's leading GPS pioneers, with a rich history that has resulted in a powerhouse GPS company with a track record of innovation. With the consumer and professional product lines, Magellan has turned the complex world of GPS into a simple tool that keeps you from getting lost on land and at sea, gives you a competitive edge in your business, and has generally changed the rules for positioning and navigation.

In 1980, MLR Electronique was founded in France as a consumer GPS company, offering the first affordable panel mount GPS solution for boating and fishing, and a multitude of other pioneering solutions. Six years later, in 1986 and across the globe in California, Magellan Corporation was making its own mark on the consumer GPS industry, starting with the first commercial GPS handheld.

Just a year later in 1987, Ashtech Corporation was founded as a professional GPS company serving the land and marine survey, GIS/Mapping, and OEM industries. Ashtech products quickly became synonymous with precision and the company staked its claim on the professional GPS industry. In Europe, Dassault Sercel Navigation Positioning was founded in 1996 as a spin-off of Sercel; a leader in geophysics for the marine survey market with roots dating back to the 1960's.

Fast-forward to 1999 when DSNP (the new name for Dassault Sercel Navigation Positioning) became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thomson-CSF, a leading electronics company with a significant presence in global markets for defense, aerospace and information technology and services. The following year DSNP acquired MLR Electronique and in January 2001 the two companies became Thales Navigation, S.A., continuing to dominate the European GPS market.

In 1999, Magellan Systems acquired Ashtech Corporation and the two formed Magellan Corporation; a GPS leader with the broadest range of GPS solutions available, both under the Magellan brand for consumers and the Ashtech brand for professional markets.

To form an even more powerful and complete GPS leader, Thales acquired Magellan Corporation in June 2001, and merged it with its subsidiary, Thales Navigation, S.A. The result was Thales Navigation, a 650-person company with 14 locations around the globe. In 2006, Thales Navigation was acquired by a group of investors led by Shah Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Santa Clara, California. The company was renamed Magellan and offers its leading consumer GPS solutions under the Magellan brand, and its innovative professional GPS solutions now under the Magellan Profesional name.