Network Technology Ltd, the acquisitive UK networking equipment and software firm, is buying once again. This time the target is fellow UK company, Bits Per Second Ltd, for which it will pay 87,000 pounds in cash and 128,000 Network Technology shares, valuing the deal at around 300,000 pounds. Brighton, East Sussex- based Bits Per Second provides graphics and graphical user interfaces for Windows and NT, with skills in client-server, SQL databases, networking and tape back-up. Its products include Graphics Server, a graphing tool for Windows developers which has been licensed by Microsoft Corp. BPS also licenses technology to Borsu Systems NV, IBM Corp’s storage partner in the Netherlands, and to Sony Corp in Japan. Klaus Bollman, chief executive of Network Technology, identified backup and storage system software as his main area of interest. Last month, the company acquired what it regards as key patents to use as the basis for a new set of storage system products, to be marketed under its Ringdale brand name (CI No 3,248). Expertise from Bits Per Second will be used to continue our development of a number of large system storage products said Bollman, saying products would now be delivered earlier than scheduled – although no dates have been revealed. Over the last year or so, Network Technology has acquired six companies, two of them US-based.
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