Harris to acquire Aastra Digital

Harris Corporation has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Aastra Digital Video, a business unit of Aastra Technologies Limited. Aastra Digital Video develops and markets video networking, encoding, decoding, and multiplexing technologies used by television broadcasters, telecommunications providers and satellite networks. The heart of their product portfolio is the VideoRunner(tm) multi-service video networking system. They have been a supplier to Harris of video networking products for the past eight years, sold under the Flexicoder(tm) and NetVX(tm) brand names.

Aastra Digital Video is based in Bridgewater, NJ, with approximately 35 employees. Aastra’s customers also include Turner Broadcasting, the National Football League, DIRECTV, Bell Canada, and the Canadian Television Network (CTV). Revenue for the 12 months ended December 31, 2005, was approximately $18 million with EBITDA of $5.7 million, which does not include certain corporate allocations. Harris will acquire the assets of Aastra Digital Video for approximately $35 million in cash, subject to customary closing conditions, and the transaction is expected to be accretive to Harris fiscal year 2007 earnings per share, excluding acquisition-related charges.

“This acquisition adds to our Total Content Delivery solutions for the broadcast industry and will enable Harris to offer networking products that transport media content over a variety of broadcast, cable, satellite, and telco networks, including those supporting new services such as IPTV and Mobile TV,” said Tim Thorsteinson, president of Harris Broadcast Communications Division. “Harris has had an excellent relationship with Aastra for many years, and we believe this acquisition will broaden our engineering resources to address rapidly emerging markets and new services that require expertise in areas such as the distribution and delivery of MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 program streams. This acquisition is a good technology match that creates significant value for our customers.”