Could it be that Motorola Solutions is actually benefitting from the dismal macroeconomic environment? That's the word from Greg Brown, CEO of Motorola Solutions, who spoke yesterday at the Citi Investor conference.
Brown said both government and enterprise have upped spending on technology in an effort to improve efficiency during these challenging times. Motorola Solutions saw sales of $2.1 billion in the second quarter of 2011, up 6 percent annually, which the company attributed to solid demand across both its government and enterprise segments.
Motorola Solutions has upped its full-year guidance for 2011, projecting revenue growth of 5.5 to 6 percent with operating earnings of approximately 16.5 percent of sales.
And while North America accounts for 56 percent of the company's business, Brown said international markets have a leg up in deploying new technologies. He said that in Europe, retailers and other businesses are pursuing cost-savings through the adoption of technologies like RFID tags and push-to-talk systems at a faster rate than here in the U.S.
When asked about whether Brown was concerned that LightSquared's proposed network could interfere with Motorola's public safety networks, Brown said he wasn't following that issue all that closely. What he is concerned about is getting the D-Block allocated for an interoperable first-responder's network.
"The thing that we'll watch closely is the D-Block and does it get allocated to public safety, which we believe it should," he said, citing support from a number of different elected officials and regulatory players.
Brown briefly addressed a question about Google's proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility. He said that Motorola Inc.'s patent portfolio of over 40,000 patents was carefully divided between the two companies. Motorola Solutions took 10,000 and Motorola Mobility took 17,000, which included a permanent cross-licensing deal that would remain intact even if Google someday decided to sell Motorola Mobility.