Acquisition of Fanfare Group, Inc.

RNS Number : 2215B

Spirent Communications PLC

15 February 2011

 



Spirent Communications plc Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire The Fanfare Group, Inc.

Test Automation Expertise Enables Customers to Reduce Costs and Improve Time to Market in the Face of Rapid Convergence

London, UK - 15 February 2011 - Spirent Communications plc (LSE: SPT) ("Spirent"), a leading communications technology company, announces today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held The Fanfare Group, Inc. ("Fanfare"), based in Mountain View, California, for a cash consideration of $15 million.  Fanfare is a leading provider of test automation solutions that help equipment manufacturers and service providers accelerate time to market and improve product quality in the face of rapidly growing complexity.

"Addressing a clear customer need to simplify testing and increase productivity is an important part of our vision.  It has been the driver for our successful partnership with Fanfare over the past two years," said Bill Burns, CEO of Spirent.  "Bringing Fanfare's software expertise and its innovative iTest technology to Spirent will enable us to realise that vision much more quickly, including an ongoing commitment to an open, standards-based approach."

Convergence, in multiple forms, is driving exponential growth in the complexity and scale required for successful testing of IP and Ethernet devices, networks and services, creating a clear need to streamline the product and services development process.  An integrated and collaborative test automation approach is becoming an increasingly important business requirement to innovate in this market.  Combining the two companies' products and services will result in a common automated test experience and a common platform that brings together engineers, technologies and processes.

"Over the past few years we've built an extremely successful partnership with Spirent." said Tom Ryan, CEO of Fanfare.  "This acquisition is a logical way to deliver even more value to customers, through Spirent's scale and global reach and through seamless integration with test solutions, including market-leading solutions from Spirent"

Spirent and Fanfare have played leading roles in an industry initiative to move beyond vendor-specific, proprietary approaches to test automation.  As founding members of the Network Test Automation Forum ("NTAF"), both companies have made major contributions to the development of industry standards that promote interoperability of commercial testing tools and test infrastructure.  

Spirent will continue its support for standardisation through NTAF, and the acquisition of Fanfare will accelerate its ability to bring to market commercial implementations of new standards as they emerge.  This commitment provides a clear path forward for customers that are applying test automation in both Spirent and multi-vendor equipment environments.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to complete on or about 16 February 2011.

- ends -

Enquiries

Bill Burns, Chief Executive Officer		Spirent Communications plc		[phone]
Eric Hutchinson, Chief Financial Officer
James Melville-Ross/James Macey-White		Financial Dynamics		[phone]

About Spirent Communications plc

Spirent Communications plc is a global leader in test and measurement inspiring innovation within development labs, communication networks and IT organisations.  We enable today's communication ecosystem as well as tomorrow's emerging enterprises to deploy life-enriching communications networks, devices, services and applications.  The Systems group develops power control systems for electrical vehicles in the mobility and industrial markets.  Further information about Spirent Communications plc can be found at www.spirent.com.

Spirent Communications plc Ordinary Shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: SPT).  The Company operates a Level 1 American Depositary Receipt ("ADR") programme with each ADR representing four Spirent Communications plc Ordinary Shares.  The ADRs trade in the US over-the-counter ("OTC") market under the symbol SPMYY and the CUSIP number is 84856M209.  Spirent ADRs are quoted on the Pink OTC Markets electronic quotation service which can be found at www.pinksheets.com.

Spirent and the Spirent logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Spirent Communications plc.  All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned herein are held by their respective companies.  All rights reserved.

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements which are made in good faith and are based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as assumptions about future events.  You can sometimes, but not always, identify these statements by the use of a date in the future or such words as "will", "anticipate", "estimate", "expect", "project", "intend", "plan", "should", "may", "assume" and other similar words.  By their nature, forward-looking statements are inherently predictive and speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future.  You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements.  The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

END

 

 

ACQTIMRTMBTBBRB