(By Balachander) General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) boosted its commercial networking offerings through the acquisition of IPWireless Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of 3G and 4G LTE wireless broadband services, for an undisclosed sum.
Falls Church, Virginia-based General Dynamics is an aerospace and defense company whose business groups include Aerospace, Combat Systems, Marine Systems and Information Systems and Technology.
"First responders need fast, reliable and secure access to full-motion video and other high-bandwidth services to protect the public and themselves," said Chris Marzilli, president of General Dynamics C4 Systems. "Recent legislative initiatives have accelerated the adoption of these technologies throughout the public safety community and IPWireless provides the end-user devices and scalable networking components that enable that access."
Following the close of the deal, IPWireless will be renamed General Dynamics Broadband and will operate as an unit of General Dynamics C4 Systems, which makes secure communications systems, command and control systems to customers within the U.S. Department of Defense, federal and civilian agencies.
General Dynamics expects the transaction to be completed in the third quarter of 2012.
GD shares, which have been trading between $53.95 and $75.93 over the past year, lost 0.47 percent to trade at $67.13 in early Tuesday.