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NICE acquires FAST Video Security
By CINDY WAXER
TMCnet Contributing Editor
If today’s video security market is any indication, ‘NICE’ guys don’t always finish last.
NICE Systems, a Ra’anana, Israel-based provider of date recording solutions, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire all the outstanding shares of FAST Video Security AG, a Swiss-based developer of video systems for security and surveillance purposes. Under the agreement, NICE would acquire FAST for approximately $21 million in cash at closing, with potential earnouts based on performance milestones amounting to a maximum of $12 million payable over the next three years.
The deal, which is expected to close in early 2006, bolsters NICE’s position in the video security market with a full suite of IP-based solutions, as well as extends the company’s global reach in the digital video security market by increasing its footprint in Europe with new distribution channels.
As it stands, NICE enjoys partnerships with Lucent, Microsoft and Siemens. Businesses such as Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, Avaya and EarthLink count on NICE’s solutions to monitor customer interactions. Earlier this month, the Philadelphia Police Department, the fourth largest metropolitan police agency in the United States, selected NICE to capture and analyze its emergency communications. And just last month, NICE’s year-old software program, NICE Perform, earned coverage in BusinessWeek for its ability to track verbal signals and identify emotions such as frustration in the audio recordings of customer calls.
NICE estimates that FAST will add $10 million to 2006 revenues, increasing the company’s revenues guidance to $365 -$373 million.
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Cindy Waxer is a Toronto-based freelance journalist specializing in business and technology. She has written for publications including TIME, Fortune Small Business, Business 2.0, Computerworld, Canadian Business, and Workforce Management. To see more of her articles, please visit Cindy Waxer’
s columnist page.
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