What Forkbeard Technologies does

Forkbeard Technologies, headquartered in Oslo, Norway, was founded in 2019 to build an indoor positioning platform that combines Bluetooth Low Energy and ultrasound technologies. The company's proprietary Ultrasound Low Energy (ULE) technology delivers certainty-based, high-precision location data refined over more than 25 years of development, primarily targeting healthcare environments. Its flagship platform, SonitorONE, is a cloud-based enterprise visibility system that unifies six RTLS technologies into a single solution, supported by active RTLS tags (over 1M+ deployed), environmental sensors, environmental monitoring, RFID integration, and a middleware Integration Layer that connects to existing hospital IT systems. The company also supports phones-as-tags, enabling smartphones to function as location tags. Solutions built on the platform include Asset Utilization, Staff Safety & Duress, Nurse Call Automation, Patient Flow, Hand Hygiene Compliance, Specimen Tracking, and Environmental Monitoring, with reported outcomes of 40% faster workflows, 25% reduction in equipment loss, and 99.9% system uptime.

Name

Forkbeard Technologies

Legal name

Sonitor Technologies

Website

https://forkbeardtech.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Forkbeard Technologies, headquartered in Oslo, Norway, builds an indoor positioning platform combining Bluetooth Low Energy and ultrasound for high-precision real-time location. Its SonitorONE platform serves 300+ hospitals globally with asset tracking, patient flow, staff safety, and compliance solutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) for Healthcare

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)

akta.pro primary industry

Fleet, Asset Tracking & Telematics Location Platforms (BPAMANAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Fleet Tracking, Mapping & Real-Time Location Services (RTLS) (TLAEAFAD)

Keywords

• Indoor positioning systems
• Real-time location
• Ultrasound positioning technology
• Bluetooth low energy
• Healthcare location services

Headquarters

HQ city

Oslo

HQ country

Norway

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. RTLS Hardware (Tags, Sensors, Infrastructure): Sale of RTLS tags, environmental sensors, and RTLS infrastructure equipment. Over 1M+ RTLS tags deployed. Hardware forms the physical layer of the location tracking system.
2. Software/Subscription (SonitorONE Cloud Platform): Cloud-based software platform providing analytics, applications, and single-pane-of-glass management. Sold as enterprise subscription to healthcare organizations.
3. Professional Services: Implementation, deployment, and support services for healthcare organizations deploying RTLS solutions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Forkbeard Technologies is building the world's leading indoor positioning platform by combining Bluetooth Low Energy and ultrasound technologies. The platform powers real-time location solutions including asset utilization, staff safety and duress, nurse call automation, patient flow, hand hygiene compliance, specimen tracking, and environmental monitoring for hospitals and clinics. It unifies multiple RTLS technologies, devices, and software applications into a single cloud-based enterprise visibility platform.

Product overview

Sonitor is a healthcare-focused RTLS company offering SonitorONE, a unified cloud-based platform that integrates 6 RTLS technologies and combines location-aware hardware (RTLS tags, environmental sensors, phones as tags) with software applications. The platform powers multiple solutions including Asset Utilization, Staff Safety & Duress, Nurse Call Automation, Patient Flow, Hand Hygiene Compliance, Specimen Tracking, and Environmental Monitoring. Built on proprietary Ultrasound Low Energy (ULE) technology, the platform provides 99.9% system uptime and supports integration with RFID systems.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SonitorONE: Cloud-based enterprise visibility platform combining right technologies, devices, and software applications for healthcare environments.

Products and services

• SonitorONE Platform A cloud-based enterprise-wide RTLS platform combining multiple technologies, devices, and software applications to deliver a single-pane-of-glass location visibility experience for hospital and clinic customers.
• Asset Utilization Real-time location solution that helps hospitals locate and track medical equipment, reducing search time and improving asset utilization for clinical engineering, supply chain, and nursing teams.
• Staff Safety & Duress Location-based safety solution for healthcare workers that enables real-time duress alerts and faster response times to safety incidents.
• Nurse Call Automation Automated nurse call solution that integrates real-time location data to streamline clinical workflow responses and reduce manual call handling.
• Patient Flow Real-time patient movement visibility solution that helps hospitals streamline patient flow, room turnover, and bed management across ER, OR, PACU, and ICU settings.
• Hand Hygiene Compliance Location-aware compliance solution that monitors and improves hand hygiene compliance among healthcare staff using real-time location data.
• Specimen Tracking Real-time tracking solution for medical specimens that ensures chain of custody accuracy and reduces loss or misidentification across the laboratory workflow.
• Environmental Monitoring Location-aware environmental monitoring solution that tracks temperature, humidity, and other conditions in healthcare facilities using environmental sensors.
• RTLS Infrastructure Hardware infrastructure components (sensors, exciters, gateways) that enable real-time locating system functionality in healthcare environments.
• RTLS Tags Wearable and attachable RTLS tags that transmit location signals for tracking assets, staff, and patients in hospitals and clinics.
• Environmental Sensors Location-aware sensors deployed in healthcare facilities to monitor environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity.
• Ultrasound Low Energy (ULE) Proprietary ultrasound-based positioning technology that delivers certainty-based, high-precision location data and is sold as a core technology offering underpinning indoor positioning deployments.

Quantifiable outcome

• 40% faster workflows
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability1 record

Feature7 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Partner Portal EcosystemcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSonitor maintains a partner ecosystem with a dedicated Partner Portal (partnerportal.sonitor.com) for channel partners, resellers, and value-added resellers who help deploy and sell Sonitor RTLS solutions to healthcare organizations globally.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Zebra Technologies: Zebra (with the legacy Motorola Solutions Enterprise and recent acquisitions) offers RTLS, RFID, and location solutions as part of a broad enterprise hardware and analytics portfolio, often competing with Sonitor in large hospital procurements.
• GE Healthcare: GE Healthcare sells asset management and workflow solutions to hospitals, including some RTLS-adjacent capabilities within its broader clinical and operational portfolio, making it a peripheral but material competitor in the same buyer conversations.
• Aruba Networks (HPE): Aruba's Meridian and indoor-location offerings, leveraging existing Wi-Fi infrastructure, compete for hospital location-services budgets and represent the network-infrastructure-led alternative to Sonitor's dedicated RTLS approach.
• Impinj: Impinj is a leading provider of RAIN RFID tags and readers used for asset and inventory visibility; Sonitor explicitly integrates RFID as one of its 6 RTLS technologies, positioning Impinj as both a partner and adjacent competitor.
• Cisco (DNA Spaces / Catalyst Center): Cisco provides indoor location and IoT services through its networking platform; in hospitals with significant Cisco network footprints, it competes with Sonitor as the default 'network-vendor-plus-location' option.

Direct peers

• Kontakt.io: Kontakt.io provides BLE-based RTLS infrastructure, tags, and a cloud location platform used in healthcare and other verticals for asset and people tracking, making it a peer on the technology and platform layer even if its healthcare depth is shallower.
• Securitas Healthcare (formerly Stanley Healthcare): Securitas Healthcare provides enterprise RTLS, asset tracking, staff safety/duress, and patient flow solutions to hospitals, directly overlapping with Sonitor's solution portfolio and serving the same large health-system buyers.
• Quuppa: Quuppa provides high-precision Bluetooth-based indoor positioning systems used across healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics; it competes with Sonitor on the technology layer (positioning accuracy) and increasingly on enterprise healthcare deployments.
• Midmark (Versus Technology): Midmark's RTLS business (built around the Versus Technology acquisition) delivers clinical-grade location services for hospitals focused on patient flow, asset tracking, and hand hygiene — closely comparable to Sonitor's healthcare RTLS focus.
• CenTrak: CenTrak is a leading healthcare-focused RTLS provider offering BLE, ultrasound, and hybrid location technologies for asset tracking, patient/staff locating, and clinical workflow automation — the most direct like-for-like competitor to Sonitor in the hospital RTLS market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/13015481

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Forkbeard Technologies