Business profile
Spirent adds multi-million dollar
muscle to local technology corridor
By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

The slowdown in the tech economy hasn’t thwarted Spirent’s plans to grow and prosper.

The United Kingdom-based computer network testing company recently announced plans to acquire Caw Networks in a deal valued at more than $100 million in stock and cash.

Santa Clara-based Caw will become a part of Spirent Communication’s Performance Analysis Systems Division, which is based in Calabasas.

"This acquisition provides us with key software technology to pursue a new and critical sector of the market that is highly complementary to our existing performance analysis capabilities," said Nicholas Brookes, Spirent chief executive.

Caw will give Spirent the additional technology to assist network equipment manufacturers and service providers in the testing of applications, devices and networks, Brookes said.

"Our bread and butter has been in network testing, basically measuring quality of service issues with packets of data being sent across networks," Spirent spokeswoman Cathi Lane said. "This [acquisition] enables us to get into web application testing and basically how end user behavior on the web can affect how network equipment is performing."

Spirent moved to its Lost Hills offices four years ago from Chatsworth. Last year, the company added a second office in the Liberty Canyon neighborhood just off the 101 Freeway.

One of the largest companies in the 101 Technology Corridor, Spirent now has 500 employees stationed in Calabasas.

The new location serves as a manufacturing site for Spirent’s performance analysis test tools including the SmartBits line. The company’s other products include Adtech 4000, which tests core networks, and Abacus, a performance measurement system for voice data transmission.

Spirent is listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: SPT) and the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: SPM). Shares on the NYSE reached $10.92 in the post-Sept. 11 bounce, but closed in the $5 range last week.