Keysight Technologies entered into an agreement to acquire Ixia for approximately $ 1.6 billion. The Board of Directors of the two US companies unanimously approved the transaction expected to be completed by the end of October 2017. Ixia is a California supplier of hardware and software solutions providing visibility, testing and security networks as well physical as virtual.
“The proposed acquisition of Ixia is directly aligned with Keysight’s growth strategy. Our business is complementary, “said Ron Nersesian, President and CEO of Keysight. Together, we will offer solutions to meet the rapid evolutions of the communications and network market in 5G mobile telephony, IoT, and security. ”
Ixia offers tools to test, secure and visualize wired, Wi-Fi and 3G / 4G / LTE networks. The american company offers solutions to block cyber attacks and evaluate threats as well as solutions to ensure end-to-end visibility of physical, virtual and SDN networks. Its solutions are aimed at companies, service providers and network equipment manufacturers.
Founded in 1997, the company has more than 1,700 employees in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North and South America. For its fiscal year 2015, it generated sales of $ 516 million for a net profit of $ 6 million.
Its know-how covers many network and wireless communication protocols. This expertise combined with its software engineering capabilities broadens the scope of Keysight’s expertise in this field, whose ambition is to design complete test solutions capable of addressing layers 1 to 7 in order to evaluate the performance of end-to-end communication from mobile devices to data center and cloud applications.
As a result of this acquisition, Keysight expects to address an additional market of approximately $ 2.5 billion. The transaction, which is expected to be completed by the end of October 2017, is subject to the approval of the shareholders of Ixia and the usual regulatory approvals.
