Burlington, Massachusetts-based Shiva Corp, which signed a definitive agreement to acquire Edinburgh-based Spider Systems Ltd last week, says the purchase of the ISDN specialist is a natural extension of its core remote access market (CI No 2,685). Shiva’s director of business development, Paul Gustafson said the company had, over recent months, gone out and travelled the world looking for the best in ISDN technology, and implementations. He added that the company’s flotation last year gave it the financial clout it needed to achieve its aim through a strategic acquisition. He would not comment on whether Shiva had considered either of the other two British acquisition targets, Sonix Communications Ltd, which is being bought by 3Com Corp (CI No 2,661), and Scorpion Logic Ltd, whose new parent will be Xylogics Inc ( CI No 2,649), but said Shiva was attracted to Spider because of the very strong synergies between the companies’ products. This factor, combined with a lack of overlap between the two company’s products has meant that there are no immediate plans to phase out any product lines, Gustafson said. The US company’s expertise is in the field of analogue asynchronous communications, while the Scottish company has centered on synchronous ISDN technology. Similarly, he added that there is a natural fit between the two companies’ distribution channels, giving the Scot access to North American channels, while enabling Shiva to capitalise on Spider’s presence in Europe. The acquired company will be integrated with its new parent once the agreement closes, and the Spider name will disappear, apart from Spider Networks, the integration and consulting subsidiary. The agreement is expected to close next quarter. Shiva will take a charge to earnings for related expenses, and as a result is expecting to report a loss for the quarter.
