The firm said that by integrating Ocean’s operations in its own activities, it is creating a new leader on the French and European markets – with over 100,000 managed vehicles.

Ocean, which currently manages 45,000 vehicles for 2,000 corporate clients, will become an operational unit of Orange Applications for Business – the digital services division of Orange Business Services specialising in connected objects, the digitalisation of customer experience, Big Data and data analytics.

Orange Business Services added that the acquisition of Ocean provides opportunities in a number of areas. This includes the development of new fleet management services and more generally new solutions for connected objects, based on Ocean's new service platform, designed to integrate services related to the Internet of Things. In addition to fleet management, it will be possible to develop new solutions for monitoring non-powered objects (skips, tanks, agricultural equipment, machinery and building site materials, etc.).

"With the acquisition of such an innovative and powerful leader as Ocean, we are creating a new European leader in fleet management that will support the growth strategy of Orange Applications for Business on the connected objects and M2M markets. Through these advanced technologies, companies managing fleets of vehicles or equipment can leverage huge benefits that will facilitate their digital transformation and develop new processes and business models," said Thierry Bonhomme, executive director of Orange Business Services.